The Last Master
by Newtype Omega
Summary: Many have forgotten what it takes to become a Pokemon Master, some even consider it a fanciful dream. Now the horizon grows darker than ever before and only one of them remains to answer the call; he does not expect an easy fight, just one he cannot lose.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Standard rules apply: I do not own any part of the Pokemon Franchise on any level and this story is written purely for the mutual enjoyment of the fan community.

Author's Note: I've decided to use the Japanese character names where applicable for Trainers and Coordinators alike. It just feels more like my style and if I mess up any of the Japanese names, be sure to note it in a review and it'll get corrected. (Pokemon will still be referred to by their English names for simplicity's sake. I simply don't want to look up as many as are slated to be in this story.)

Reviews and constructive criticism are more than welcome!

* * *

Prologue

* * *

In a nearly deserted building, a woman sits in her office which has no windows and the only lighting in the room is provided by her desk lamp and the glow of her computer monitor. If she thinks it an eerie setting, she gives no hint of her unease save the fact that her hands are clasped together and her posture is slightly tense.

To any outside observer, it is very clear that she is waiting for something to happen as she glances at the clock for the second time in less than a minute.

Her computer bleeps as a video transmission begins patching in and encrypting the data stream. A young man's face appears a few moments later, looking grim in the backglow of something that is golden-orange as shouting is heard from several directions on the other end.

"Give me the bad news Kensuke," she orders, straight to business.

"It ain't pretty Margaret," Kensuke replies as he shakes his head, glancing around again as if to make sure that he's appropriately safe to hold a conversation.

"Something a little more specific Ranger! I need to know where we stand!" She bit back.

"The fires are dying down now and the final stats tally up to some 300 acres of forest, meadows, and local riverbeds. Burned to a cinder and near-boiling respectively. We've confirmed some 25 witnesses, all but three of them we've managed to buy off and keep them quiet."

"And the last three?"

"One hardass country bumpkin, a young girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a Pokemon Researcher who was in the area on some kind of expedition; although we're still looking for a positive ID on the first two, I could be given three guesses as to who the third one is, but I'd only need one of 'em."

"Can he be bought?" Margaret asked, hoping for something simple.

"Not hardly, but I think he can be reasoned with and trusted with SOME of the truth. We don't need to tell him everything, but I'd spin it for certain and leave him to fill in the blanks on his own. I'll bet we could also do the same with the girl were it not for the fact that she was at ground zero at some point."

"GEEZ! Kensuke, how did THAT happen?!" Margaret rasped, her rage apparent.

"Like I said ma'am; wrong place at the wrong time. Hold on a second." Kensuke said as he was handed a datapad and began scrolling through it.

"Okay, we can scratch the girl off the list too. Turns out, she's one of ours. She's in the Logistics Department and looking for a Transfer to the Intelligence Division. I'd recommend approving the transfer and calling this some kind of 'initiation test' for her. If she's serious about working in the department, it could help to weed her out early. Either way, she might also conclude that it's meant to stay out of the public eye even if her Transfer doesn't pan out. I'll ask her what she was doing way out here, but I figure it won't matter all that much."

"Suggestion noted. Since the hardass is being himself, get someone from Intelligence down there and perform a memory wipe for the past 96 hours. If he's the only holdout, then everyone will consider him a radical extremist or a certified nut."

"But Ma'am, those kinds of things can be reversed, are you sure that's such a good idea?" Kensuke asked.

"Just DO IT. If he wants to be difficult, then that's FINE by me. I can be difficult right back. Now then, back to specifics. What's the condition of the combatants?"

Kensuke visibly turns away from the screen/camera and winces.

"Daichi's dead. The Kid's not."

Margaret simply waited, her hands steepling as she waited for Kensuke to gather his grit for what she was sure wouldn't be pleasant.

"Daichi has some broken bones, two of 'em are Chinese Scarabs," Kensuke began. Margaret had to wince at that, having a broken bone poke out through your own skin was never pleasant to even look at, let alone experience first hand.

"He's got multiple bruises, some contused organs, and he's been beheaded." Kensuke finished, looking green in the face.

Margaret's eyebrows flew up into her hairline. The Kid had never been this gruesome in his work before, but then Daichi had gone and essentially turned his back on both him and his teammates, not to mention the Ranger Corps on top of all that. Betrayal wasn't something The Kid tolerated in any capacity. You were either on his side or you weren't. If you happened to cross him, it was likely the last thing you'd ever do.

"The Kid says he'll take care of funeral arrangements; cremation and scattering. I ain't gonna argue with him."

"No objections here. I sure as hell wouldn't shell out for a coffin for that turncoat. At least this way he gets a decent burial. More than I would do for him," Margaret replied.

"How are the kid's teammates? Gret and Kendra?" Kensuke asked.

"Gret's got a moderate concussion, a broken leg, and a broken arm. Kendra's bruised all over with both shoulders dislocated and a few fractured vertebrae after she fell some twenty feet and landed on her back. The X-Rays are showing that both of them should be back on their feet in a month with casts and back up to a hundred percent within eight months," Margaret explained.

"... and The Kid has barely got anything on him other than some bruises and some blood loss along with extreme exhaustion. Although I think it should be noted that our field medics found evidence of recently regenerated parts of his body. It's a scary thought that this guy's taught his pokemon how to mend bones and knit flesh…" Kensuke thought aloud, the shock and awe present in his voice echoing Margaret's thoughts.

"What did you expect? Those two fought a running battle that lasted nearly 72 HOURS. They might be extraordinarily talented, but they're still only human. And while it may be disconcerting that his team can do such a thing, I'm sure it's helped him too many times to count. Did any of the boy's team sustain injury?"

"His pokemon? Nah, those four are all in one piece last I checked. Daichi's pokemon cleared out when the Kid cut him down. They're probably miles away by now. We didn't dare try to catch'em. Those guys were loyal to Daichi like you wouldn't believe."

"I know that Kensuke, I did get the reports from the Trainer Evaluators this year. If they become a problem, I'll let The Kid handle them. God knows he might be the only one who COULD..."

"Sorry ma'am. So what now? We've been at this for hours now."

"Finish the job you were given, I've got the media blackout in effect, and the paperwork's about to catch up in an hour or so. You'll have time to finish up. Just take your time and don't MISS ANYTHING," Margaret punctuated.

"Do you know where the boy is now?"

"Last I heard, he was on his way to visit his teammates and get himself checked out at HQ," Kensuke answered.

"I'll see if I can't catch him between the two and debrief him. Contact me again in six hours and give me another update Kensuke. Paransky out."

"Aye ma'am. In six hours then," Kensuke replied as Margaret terminated the connection and gathered a few files in her hand and powered down her computer terminal before leaving the room, heading towards the infirmary.

* * *

In another part of the complex, the infirmary trudges on through another shift as most of the recent action finally dies down now that all the injured have been tended to and are left to rest and recuperate.

At the Nurse's Station, three of the Gamma Shift nurses have just finished their first set of rounds and are updating charts, signing forms, and filing them away for the doctors to review during the Alpha Shift. Unlike most pokemon centers, this facility mostly treats humans, and as such, there isn't a Nurse Joy in sight.

The elevator suddenly dings at the end of the hallway, and the only male nurse of Gamma Shift spares a single glance towards the opening doors. He starts for a moment before dismissing the lone figure emerging from the elevator. He knows that this person is far from being a threat.

As the young man approaches the Nurse's Station however, the other two nurses, who haven't met the young man before, visibly freeze where they sit with eyes that have doubled in size.

The young man appears to have just walked out of a war zone. But he couldn't be any older than a teenager, at the absolute most. His army-green fatigues and his fully gloved hands are covered in what must be dried blood, mud, and scorch marks. His headband is in a similar state and it only just now occurs to the nurses that the young man is armed with a katana-style sword resting across his back, with the hilt behind his right shoulder.

He wears a vest as well as a hip rig and it is obvious that the weapons on his hips are a pair of tasers and that there is a combat knife strapped to the small of his back. He has four pokeballs on his belt that appear to be regulation size and shape, save for the fact that the half of them that is usually bright red is cobalt blue.

The young man only steps up to the counter and gazes around the station before reaching over the counter and snagging the clipboard detailing the rooming occupants. A quick glance at the chart and another at a map behind the station are all he needs as he gently sets the clipboard back where he found it and continues on without saying a word as the male nurse merely nods in acknowledgment as the young man passes him, which the young man reciprocates, their eyes never meeting.

The other two nurses finally manage to overcome their shock and turn to the male nurse for an explanation.

"Yes. That was exactly who you think it was," He replies before either of them can open their mouths as he continues what he was previously doing.

The two women merely stare at each other in wide-eyed wonderment, realizing that the young man they just met is now perhaps the single most infamous and dangerous person in the Ranger Corps.

* * *

Room 043G is like all the other rooms on Level Zero in the Ranger Corps Infirmary.

There are two beds, one television, one chair by each bed, and assorted medical equipment all arranged efficiently with a bathroom in the back corner. In this particular room are two of the more talented Rangers in the world, currently listed as in "Serious, but Stable" condition.

These two are members of a little-known faction of the Ranger Corps that is tasked with duties more urgent than more public-figure operatives who do very little to hide their identities as Rangers. Their duties most often call them into situations where wild pokemon cannot be found on a whim and as such, in addition to their capture stylus, they carry their own established teams of pokemon with them wherever they go. But that is another story.

The door to Room 043G opened slowly and silently, admitting the third and final member of their team, a young man more commonly known among the Corps simply as "The Kid", only because he didn't hand out his name regularly and his teammates, along with their leader Daichi, had more often referred to him by his nickname when on-assignment.

The young man's footfalls were whisper-quiet on the floor as he strode to the foot of his teammates' beds and picked up the charts that were hanging on the footboards. He'd had basic medic-training and as such, knew how to read a doctor's shorthand notes regarding his teammate's conditions. What he saw didn't surprise him all that much, so he merely laid the charts back where he'd found them and pulled one of the room's chairs against the far wall and sat down to catch a catnap while he waited for Gret and Kendra, his teammates, to wake up so he could tell them that their sensei was now dead, by his own hand no less.

After a few minutes, he gave up trying to catnap as he knew that the only way he was going to get any sleep was in his own bunk as he idly watched Gret and Kendra sleep peacefully. They were both hooked up to heart monitors, so he could tell at a glance that they were both deeply asleep unless Kendra was acting the part once more. He'd been fooled by her more than once in that arena.

The quick glance he'd had over their charts assured him that their injuries would mend with time, even if it would take longer than he was used to or would have allowed himself. But that was neither here nor there, and he was certain that his teammates would have lots of questions for him when they finally woke up with him in the room. The last time he'd seen them had been over two weeks ago, when he'd caught up to them as they were being whisked into a helicopter from the scene of their fight with Daichi.

He was still exhausted from the fight and the only reason he hadn't just gone to the barracks and sacked out had been because the Field Commander, Margaret Paransky, had insisted that he debrief her on the specifics of the fight quickly before details began fading. However, The Kid was nobody's fool and he knew what the woman was really after.

He and Daichi had sat and talked for nearly two hours before unleashing their opening attacks in plain view. Not a soul in the Ranger Corps had been brave enough to come close enough to record or document what their exchange had been about, and Paransky was no doubt trying to attach a 'why' to Daichi's sudden attitude change.

The truth was that their discussion had been about 'meaning-of-life' stuff. Daichi had been the closest thing he'd had to a father since Les and Sue had died after taking him in what seemed like a lifetime ago. Questions he'd never gotten to ask Les, he'd posed to Daichi in those two brief hours that he'd had with his former sensei, away from prying ears and as close to a father-son moment as they'd ever had in their decade-long tenure together. Nothing earth-shattering other than the fact that Daichi had finally snapped under the pressure of the job and decided to use his formidable skills to take whatever he wanted as payment for his many years of service to the Ranger Corps.

It had been enough for The Kid to swear an oath, then and there, not to repeat his sensei's mistake of getting caught up in the machine.

The door abruptly opened, glaringly loud in the silence of Gamma Shift. The Kid was too exhausted to react accordingly, and merely granted the person a brief glace through heavy eyelids. Paransky was here, and no doubt she wanted to get started with the debriefing.

"You made quite a mess out there young man," she began.

The Kid's only response was to shrug his shoulders and put a disarming look on his face that clearly said "_It wasn't MY fault."_

"Enough with the Silent Treatment boy, let's get this over with..." She grumbled as she took a yellow notepad and a pen out from her briefcase before sitting in the chair opposite him.

And so the young man in front of her began to recount his tale. From being called in off his current assignment to track down his former mentor from the area where he'd soundly defeated his teammates, to the ten day trek catching up with Daichi, to the encounter itself and most of his rationale for what he did during the fight. The entire story lasted almost two hours, in which time and Gret and Kendra also awoke and listened to the harrowing story of how Daichi Yamada had met his end.

"... and then before he even finished his sentence, I swung." The Kid finished, fingering his sword's hilt as he did so.

Everyone else in the room felt the blood drain from their faces.

"Why didn't you...?" Kendra asked, her words trailing off.

"Because there was nothing left to be said. We were stalling and he and I both knew it. He wasn't going to come back and I figured that he would ..." This time, it was the Kid's turn to trail off as he pinched the bridge of his nose as if fighting off a migraine. Given the circumstances, tears were the likelier candidate.

"I thought he'd see it coming and dodge. Next thing I knew, his torso was on the ground in front of me bleeding something fierce." The Kid explained.

"That'll be enough then." Paransky said as she packed her notepad back into her briefcase.

Gret had been resoundingly silent throughout the entire debriefing, looking ashamed of the fact that he couldn't match Daichi's skill when he'd had the chance, especially since he was both older and physically stronger than the Kid.

A knock on the door broke the tense silence between the four people.

"Come in?" The Kid called out uncertainly, confused as to who would be here so early in the morning when the nurses had left not twenty minutes ago after checking on Gret and Kendra.

Almost shyly, somehow expecting the atmosphere of the room, the door opened to reveal a young brunette woman with jade green eyes covered by a slim pair of eyeglasses. She wore the standard Ranger Logistics Department uniform, a conservative black skirt with the traditional Ranger jacket, only in black and gold colors rather than the Field Operative's red, white, and gold. The Kid recognized her immediately as the girl he'd saved during the battle with Daichi, way out in the middle of nowhere. He hadn't even had time to ask for her name.

"Ah, Miss Steinbech. I take it you were examined by the staff here?" Paransky asked.

"Yes ma'am." The young woman replied. Nervously wringing her hands together and then pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Allow me to introduce Ms. Selena Steinbech. You two have met I believe." Margaret nodded in The Kid's direction.

"Am I interrupting something important?" The brunette asked.

"Not really, we were just finishing up here. Was there something you needed?" Paransky questioned in her typical cold fashion.

"No ma'am. I was just looking for..." She trailed off, nodding towards The Kid's direction. It seemed she too was in the dark about The Kid's name, not at all an uncommon occurrence when Gret and Kendra thought about it, eyeing the young woman with mild interest.

"Well, you've found him," Paransky continued.

A terse silence filled the room as four pairs of eyes rested on young Selena, no one ready nor eager to speak after The Kid had just finished explaining his end of things.

"We just finished our official debriefing on the situation regarding your rescue. Is there anything you'd like to say about the situation?" Paransky asked, her briefcase still open. Selena seemed grateful for the opening.

"No ma'am. I gave my statement in the field, so I just wanted to come by and thank him personally." Still uncertain of her position in the room and obviously wanting the situation to be a little more private, Selena merely shuffled her feet, waiting for someone else to call the meeting adjourned.

"If you ever want to make it in the Intelligence Division, you're going to have to be more decisive young lady," Paransky thought aloud with no regard for the girl's feelings. She hadn't intended to be callous, it was just a fact of life that the ID wasn't the easiest place to work, given the nature of the work those people did.

Selena's eyes teared up for but a moment before she turned and exited the room. To her credit, none of them heard the sob that she was obviously trying to conceal from them.

"God Bless It, Margaret..." The Kid sneered as he got up and moved to follow Selena. He'd been in a daze until he'd seen how Paransky's ice-cold manor had affected her. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was seeing pretty girls cry. Now he was going to have to rectify another problem that hadn't started out as his.

"I expect you in my office at the beginning of Alpha Shift young man!" Paransky explained as The Kid made his way out the door. She planned on giving him a leave of absence, but she wanted to make it official. She never was one to play favorites.

"Slave driver..." The Kid grumbled as he glanced at his watch and broke into a jog in order to catch up to Selena, who was already halfway to the elevator, her shoulders visibly slumped.

"Hey!" He called gently, catching up to her and holding onto her elbow as he did so.

She turned towards him, eyes downcast. She hastily sniffled, removed her glasses, and dragged her sleeve across her eyes before looking up and replacing her glasses, determined to at least put on a brave front.

"You shouldn't let her get to you like that. She does that to new recruits. Makes 'em feel like dirt to try and make them quit." He began.

"Well it's working... I just froze up out there..." Selena trailed off.

"Hey! None of that! You were never trained for something like that so I daresay that if anyone should be cut some slack in all of this, it's you. Before today, you'd never even seen a field operative like me or Daichi. It's pretty rare to run across us actually. "

Curiosity won out as the Kid decided to ask a question that had been in the back of his mind since he'd saved her. Daichi apparently had either wanted no witnesses or wanted to make an example of those who got in his way. And now that he thought about it, the young woman HAD stood in his way...

"First off, I thought it was pretty gutsy to stand up to him like you did. Not many people had the nerve to draw a weapon on Daichi Yamada; so as far as I'm concerned, you're about three steps ahead of most other Rangers," he explained.

The young woman's eye lit up briefly before she started trembling slightly again.

"I had no idea who he was. I'd always heard tales of the Great Daichi Yamada over the usual gossip channels, but I'd never actually seen a picture of him. He would have killed me, right?" She asked.

"I'm not sure anymore. I'd like to think he would have knocked you out, but with how he was acting near the end. I can't be certain. By the way, what WERE you doing out there? I thought that the entire area had been cordoned off?"

"Oh no, the way I heard it, the ID simply had an electronic surveillance net over him. Some Rangers were overhead on Fearows, but there wasn't a single person willing to come within a mile of him, let alone stand in his way, plus he was moving too fast to cordon off _anything_." Selena explained, now on more familiar ground. Crunching numbers and strategizing were her strong points, hence why she was something of a whiz-kid in Logistics and had hoped to make the transition to Intelligence.

"And to answer your other question, I was in the area conducting a survey on the local pokemon; species, population spread, growth trends, that sort of thing. I managed to grab my laptop and all my portable memory units, but all the physical workups and samples I took went up in smoke..." She trailed off, hoping to not offend the young man.

The Kid's eyes widened as he nervously scratched the back of his head, breaking into a cold sweat. He and the Logistics Department had never really gotten along, as Logistics also handled Damage-Control and regularly collaborated with the Finance Division. Whenever he broke something, they would inevitably track him down and lecture him till half their division was blue in the face. The last thing he wanted was to get on this young woman's bad side.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Drake was a little TOO enthusiastic during the fight. He gets that way from time to time..."

"Drake?" Selena asked, genuinely puzzled.

"The Charizard on my team." He replied, nervously grinning.

Selena's eyes widened slightly. She distinctly remembered seeing such a creature, but it hadn't appeared as a garden-variety Charizard. Charizards typically had shorter, stouter limbs and walked upright on two legs with a large abdomen and a long neck.

The Charizard she'd seen in the forest had been lean, almost wiry in appearance and was just at home on four legs as he was on two. Not to mention the fact that it was almost a time and a half as large as a regular Charizard, easily standing some eight or nine feet tall on two legs. Gone also was the large abdomen, and in its place was a longer, leaner frame with the arms being as equally muscled as its legs.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of this Charizard had been its attacks. Gone was the classic flamethrower and slash, and instead this Charizard used a variety of flame-based specialty attacks that each served a specific purpose. Most disturbing of all had been the fact that Selena felt certain that the strength of those specialty attacks was more than enough to maim or even kill an opponent.

All this information correlated in Selena's mind within a fraction of a second, leaving her stunned at some of the implications.

"You've spent a great deal of time training it, haven't you?" She asked.

"You mean Drake? Yeah, he and I have been together almost since the beginning." The Kid explained, looking confused for a second.

"Do you name all your pokemon?"

"Only the ones who make it onto the active roster, and let me tell you, getting on the active roster takes some doing." The Kid grinned as he turned and headed towards the elevator, wanting to at least grab a shower before he had to report in for Alpha Shift, which he noticed started in another two hours after glancing at his watch.

"Oh, NOW you're going to have to fill me in," Selena replied, smiling giddily.

"Oh REALLY?" The Kid asked, raising an eyebrow as the young woman trotted up beside him as he pushed the elevator call button. He suddenly felt uneasy.

"Seriously, you can't expect to drop me a line THAT cryptic and not ask questions."

Alarm bells primed inside his head in a mental 'yellow alert'. He knew as well as any member of their unit that the work they did wasn't for the weak of heart. It was time for a little intimidation of his own, maybe save this young lady a bit of heartbreak at the same time.

"Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup." He retorted, making an attempt to grin darkly.

Selena smiled wickedly. Witty banter was a pastime she happened to enjoy. She mocked rolling up her sleeves as she launched her own salvo of dialogue.

"The _beatings_ will continue until morale _improves_." She answered, looking him dead in the eye, calling his bluff.

To his credit, The Kid's shock registered on his face for only a brief moment. Surprisingly, the only thought that ran through his head at that moment was something along the lines of...

_Oh, I LIKE her._

The elevator doors opened with a loud DING.

"Would you care to continue this discussion over coffee? I know a good 24-hour café right upstairs..." He trailed off.

Selena rolled her eyes. The 24-hour café on the second floor of HQ was a common meeting place for Rangers since they were technically open 24/7 and the people who worked the night shifts needed to eat too.

"I don't take coffee with strangers." She replied, moving into the elevator with a mischievously haughty look on her face.

The Kid had the decency to look a little embarrassed as he followed her lead and extended his hand to her.

"Stroud, Leonidas Stroud; pleased to make your acquaintance Ms. Steinbech."

"Call me Selena; the only people who still call me Ms. Steinbech are the housekeepers." If she found his name odd or old-fashioned, then she didn't show it.

"Then feel free to call me Leo; goes easier with Stroud."

"I'd have to agree. What were they thinking when they named you?" She asked in jest.

"I was named by the nurses on the ward of the hospital where I was born," he replied candidly, his voice revealing nothing.

Selena was taken aback. When her siblings had been born, she'd paid attention to the other babies in the maternity ward as well. The only time when nurses picked out a baby's name was when said baby was either orphaned or abandoned.

Selena cocked her head to the side and took in Leo's general appearance as the elevator arrived at their floor. He was certainly attractive, but looking into his eyes showed a person far older and mature than he appeared, despite the fact he was only a teenager like herself.

"I'll bet you have one hum-dinger of a story to tell. Hope you got the movie-rights for it," She chuckled.

Leo let out a short bark of genuine laughter.

"Tell me about it. You probably wouldn't believe half of it."

"Try me. I've got a pretty active imagination myself."

"Alright then, but I warned you." Leo grinned as they entered the café, ordered, and found a seat by one of the windows.

It was a small beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.

* * *

A/N: Welcome to the relaunch of Last Master! After finalizing my first term in Nursing School and finding a summer job, it's time to get back to writing whilst the getting is good.

My decision to re-launch the story stems largely from the fact that when I initially wrote it, the anime had yet to feature Haruka's reunion with Satoshi and Takeshi in Sinnoh, and because I wanted a better intro for the main character, Leo. The rest of the story will feature updated info based on the anime and pick up where the first prologue began and we'll see more and more of the backstory unfold as we go.

Bear with me, drop me a review when you can, and I hope this will prove a more enjoyable opening than I originally started with.


	2. Chapter 1

* * *

Disclaimer: Standard rules apply: I do not own any part of the Pokemon Franchise on any level and this story is written purely for the mutual enjoyment of the fan community.

Author's Note: There are really only three time-skips here in this chapter, so please bear with them, I try not to make a habit of using them too extensively. This is where the changes from the original storyboard really became necessary, as I wanted to portray Satoshi and his crew as if Haruka had already come to Sinnoh and gone back to Johto, as she did in the anime. (This also screwed up the entire storyline I originally had, but that part of the story's staying in the _vault_ until later. )

Reviews and constructive criticism are more than welcome!

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

"_I'll bet you have one hum-dinger of a story to tell. Hope you got the movie-rights for it." She chuckled._

_Leo let out a short bark of genuine laughter._

"_Tell me about it. You probably wouldn't believe half of it."_

"_Try me. I've got a pretty active imagination myself." _

"_Alright then, but I warned you." Leo grinned as they entered the café, ordered, and found a seat by one of the windows._

_It was a small beginning, but a beginning nonetheless._

* * *

Over 20 Years Later...

* * *

The sun sets over the Kanto region in a myriad of red, orange, yellow, and gold producing a breathtaking sight by any standard. The beginnings of autumn are upon Kanto in full force and as such, it is pleasantly warm and inviting to sit outside on such an evening and watch the sunset.

One young man sits outside in a porch-hung hammock, seemingly enjoying said sunset. He has a face that many would call 'ageless', meaning that he could be anywhere from twenty to forty years old and nobody would know for sure unless he told you how old he was.

He carefully brings his trusty instrument to his lips and runs through a few scales to test the harmonica and make sure it hasn't met with any abuse since he last played it nearly three months ago, if he remembers correctly.

After satisfying himself that his harmonica has suffered no injury, he begins playing. The sound which comes forth is slow, soulful, Rhythm Blues. The gentle melody floats out across the acres closest to the porch, at first startling many of the pokemon nearby. Yet after a few minutes of continued play, they all ease back into their places, almost appreciating this new addition to the cacophony of sounds which make up the surrounding forest and pastureland.

It is nearly twenty minutes before another man, this one far older than the first, appears on the porch. He sets a pitcher of iced tea on a small table between them and takes a seat in the hammock-chair beside the younger man, content to listen to the first live music his ears have heard in years.

Occasionally, the young man stops for a minute or two to pour himself a glass of tea and take a few swallows, but otherwise, he is content to continue playing and his older companion is equally willing to let him. It is only as the sun finally sinks below the horizon nearly an hour after the young man had started playing that he begins wrapping the tune up and allowing it to become more and more silent and subdued, trailing it off to a masterful whisper-finish.

Taking another swig of tea, the young man carefully places the harmonica back in the small box from whence it came and settles back into the hammock. He knows the evening is far from over and that the old man will cut to the chase soon enough.

After only five minutes, the older of the two breaks the silence.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, Leo."

"It's not your choice to make Doc."

"I'm not a medical doctor Leo, as I've told you many times before. I work with pokemon, NOT people."

"We're similar enough Yuki, and you've never let me down before," The young lad trailed off.

"I'd beg to differ. Three days ago, you were at Death's doorstep. We're damn lucky I didn't screw up and quite frankly, I'm not sure how much more of this _I_ can take. I've had to patch you up three times this past year; are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?!" The older man wheezed and then began coughing for a few moments.

"Goodness knows the stress of stitching you back together isn't doing _me_ any good."

"Are you telling me I'm not welcome here anymore?" Leo asked, hesitantly.

The old man rubbed his temples, contemplating his response. The young man had outright told him from the beginning of their arrangement that he trusted very few people, and whether he liked it or not, HE was on Leo's VERY short list of people he would trust to do something like administer medical treatment, ill-prepared for it though he was.

"No. I'm not saying that Leo. But I do think you need to take some time off from _whatever_ it is that you're doing. You've never given me details and I've never pressed you to, but I daresay you can't possibly have something going on _all_ the time. Certainly you can manage to put things on hold for a few weeks and take a vacation?" Yuki asked.

Leo was silent for several moments as he considered the Doc's offer. He couldn't recall the last time he'd taken some time off to unwind from his work, if he even dared call it that after so many years.

"You're wound so tight at this point that you're bound to snap and I personally don't want to witness such a thing," the old man continued gently. No matter what he said otherwise, he'd grown fond of Leo, almost like seeing him as a Godson of sorts. It was also nearly impossible to find someone as strikingly intelligent as Leo, as he remembered many a night where the two of them had stayed up well into the morning hours working on some project that he'd taken an interest in whenever he visited.

Unbeknownst to the older man, Leo's eyes had visibly widened at the word 'snap' and had stayed that way for nearly two seconds before he schooled his appearance back to normal and began to consider Yuki's offer more seriously.

"Didn't you say you had previous careers that you enjoyed?" Yuki asked.

Leo only nodded. He'd had to pass as several different professionals before; an accountant, a musician, a teacher, a wheel-man, a chef, a detective, a fisherman, an acrobat, and so many others.

"Didn't you mention something about being a pretty good cook at some point?" Yuki continued.

"Yeah, why?" Leo asked, mildly interested.

"I was just talking to an old friend about a week ago and he mentioned that he might have a position open if I had any assistants or interns who weren't on assignment at the moment or if I simply had any recommendations on anyone he could possibly hire."

Leo raised an eyebrow at the thought. Cooking was one of the very few things that still brought him any measure of peace. Whenever he was well enough, he'd cook for Yuki and anyone else who happened to be on the grounds when he rang the dinner bell. He remembered one red-haired lady specifically who he'd figured was about his age. He could hardly tell how old he was anymore since time just seemed to bleed together between missions.

Were it not for the fact that the nurses who'd brought him into the world had shoved the birth certificate down his throat, he'd have likely forgotten his own birthday long ago. Nothing seemed to be worth celebrating anymore, a fact that was becoming more and more of an issue with him on the cold, lonely nights when he had nothing but the stars, his team, and his thoughts for company. Having his team with him helped alleviate the loneliness, but there were some voids that they could never hope to fill...

_Maybe this is how he felt..._

Leo pushed the thought away before it fully formed and remembered his words all those years ago. He'd vowed that he wouldn't go out like _him_, and he'd be damned if he allowed himself to sink any further than he apparently already had. Yuki was obviously noticing that something was _off_, though he couldn't put a name to it.

"Can I get a few of the details about the job?" Leo asked, his voice sounding tired, but somehow relieved all the same.

Yuki almost couldn't believe his ears.

"Take a breather for a while. I'll go and talk to my friend and see if I can call in a favor and get you signed on. Who knows, you just might enjoy it," Yuki replied as he patted the younger man gently on the shoulder, being careful of his still-healing body.

"Yeah, maybe..." Leo trailed off.

It had been so long since he'd enjoyed anything. Ever since that day over a decade ago now, he'd simply been existing, forget living or enjoying.

Leo fell asleep sometime later in the warm night air, plagued by images that had long ago been burned into his mind's eye.

* * *

Three Weeks Later...

* * *

Olivine City of the Johto region is known for many things, but above all else, it is a port city that attracts all manner of trainers, coordinators, workers, and developers who all come together to form a city that is in an almost constant state of change.

On this day, the docks are undoubtedly the busiest part of the city, and for good reason. In less than two weeks, the newest cruise liner in the world, the S.S. St. Ives, would finally way anchor on her maiden voyage from dry dock.

Weighing an impressive 91,000 tons and measuring in at 965 feet, she wasn't the biggest liner ever built, but she was by far and away one of the most luxurious to have been built in almost ten years, featuring some of the latest creature comforts known to the modern world, including twin movie theatres, three swimming pools, two spas, multiple hot tubs, a full-sized pokemon training gym, and several other amenities all packed efficiently within her 15 decks and housing as many as 2,200 passengers.

The ship's dry dock had been flooded almost a month ago as the final phases of interior decorating and last-minute construction had been finishing up, although she wouldn't see open water until after her christening, which was slated for the afternoon of her departure.

Dockside, several hundred crew members were pulling double-duty for the third consecutive day in a row as supply trucks wove their way through an intricate dance of mayhem, offloading equipment of all shapes and sizes for the promise of double-time pay since the corporation which owned the ship didn't want to risk letting just anyone on board. After all, nobody wanted to invite a terrorist attack. The crew had been meticulously screened and selected, and there was simply little choice since they wanted everything to be ready on time.

A nearby warehouse served as a sorting arena where equipment was unpacked from its shipping containers and organized for transfer onto the ship. Most of the crew was already accounted for and on the jobsite, with a few notable exceptions, who had informed their supervisors that they were en-route.

Which didn't surprise many people when a yellow taxi cab pulled up to the curb across the street from the warehouse and a single young man disembarked, retrieving three bags from the back seat; a large duffle bag that appeared to be almost bursting at the seems, another large rucksack that he swung onto his shoulders, leaving the hip belt unfastened, and finally a large padded black square that had a shoulder strap as well as the traditional Medic symbol that was recognized around the world. He quickly paid the driver and then proceeded towards the front of the warehouse.

Upon entering, the figure removed his sunglasses and asked around the floor for the supervisor. After being pointed in another direction, the young man quickly headed off, hoping to get squared away quickly and get started helping the other crew members since they appeared to be very busy.

* * *

First Officer Allen Powell was just about to head back out of his office and back onto the floor when three loud knocks sounded on his door. He sighed before raising his voice and flipping to the next sheet of paper on his docket for the morning.

"Come in!"

Expecting something else to have gone wrong or had been misplaced or broken, Al was pleasantly surprised to find a young man with a pack, duffle, and full Medic Kit in his temporary office space. His surprise became even more pleasant when the youth immediately dropped his bags and fired off a near-perfect military salute. The odd quirk that the kid's left eye seemed sealed shut might have bothered Al at some point, but he'd seen worse injuries sustained in military service.

"Sir; Ship's Head Cook #8, reporting for duty, Sir!" The youth called out in a voice loud enough to be heard, but soft enough to not make Al's ears ring. Al's eye furrowed for a brief moment as he processed this information. Maybe this news wasn't so good after all.

"Son, I'm sorry to say that this ship only has seven head cooks, and they're already present and accounted for. Whoever told you to come to this dock made a mistake."

The youth wasn't fazed in the slightest. He simply reached into his jacket pocket and produced a letter from the company, along with a hand-written note from the captain, informing Allen to call him as soon as this new cook arrived.

"I was contacted about two weeks ago sir. Seems the company decided to help promote the ship by giving away some staterooms as prizes for the Johto Grand Festival that's finishing up today. A friend of mine recommended me to the Captain without telling me first, so all I got was a call asking if I wanted to help out as a cook on the ship's maiden voyage," The young man explained.

Al nodded at the guy's explanation. He'd heard the rumors off the grapevine a few days ago and had wondered what kind of package the company was likely to throw together in order to show off the elegance of the St. Ives, and he guessed that this guy must come as part of the package. He quickly placed a call to the Captain, who said he would have someone down there soon to escort the young man onto the ship and work him into one of the few remaining orientation classes.

"If you'll just wait outside the office, the Captain'll get someone to escort you onto the boat and get you settled in. In the meantime, I have more work to do. Welcome to the crew of the St. Ives sailor. I don't believe I caught your name?" Al asked.

"Stenbuck sir. Leo Stenbuck." The youth replied steadily, shaking the First Officer's hand.

"I'm First Officer Allen Powell, in case you didn't know already. Welcome aboard Mr. Stenbuck. If you can spare the time, we'd appreciate any help you can give us on the floor once you're settled in. Just make sure you punch a time card on the way in and out and report to the galley supervisor when you do so."

"Yes sir. I'd be happy to help out. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you," Leo replied with a small grin as he and Allen stepped outside the door and locked it behind them.

* * *

Leo's head had begun to spin with how fast the crew was moving in order to ready the ship. Although he acknowledged that with less than fourteen days until the launch and only about sixty percent of the ship furnished and ready to receive guests, they had a right to be concerned about the pace they were moving.

The crewman who'd shown up (some twenty minutes after he'd parted ways with Al Powell) was chipper and polite enough, but it was obvious that the lad was in a bit of a hurry. Leo had to be extra cautious around turns as his stereoscopic vision was practically nil with his left eye out of commission. If the crewman had been spooked at Leo's closed left eye, then he'd done a superb job of hiding his reaction, as Leo hadn't picked up on any overt signals.

Leo's quarters weren't much other than a large closet with two full-size bunks, one atop the other, a wall of shelves for personal items, and another small room with a head and shower. He immediately took notice of the other door and lack of a doorknob, meaning that this was likely a shared bathroom between four crewmen.

"Am I alone in this room?" Leo asked the young crewman, who nodded his head.

"Yes sir; as of yet, no one's slated to be in here with you. You're a late addition, so you're also the odd man out."

Leo took a minute to look around the room and throw his bags on the lower bunk, but the crewman glanced at his watch and urged the both of them out of the room, leading Leo away once more. Leo took note of his room number and the deck they were on as the crewman continued to keep up the speedy pace.

"If we hurry, we can get you into a class and get your ID made within a few hours, then we'll have one more hand to help load the ship," he explained as he dropped Leo off at a registration desk. Surprisingly, the Captain, an aged gentleman by the name of Daniel Whitcomb, personally introducing himself to the new crewmen who'd arrived. Leo assured the young crewman he'd be alright and let the young man race off to resume helping the on-loading process.

Captain Whitcomb took immediate notice when Leo introduced himself to the young lady checking in the new crewman and giving them a Visitor's badge until their new IDs were made. He approached Leo with a calm demeanor and introduced himself.

"An honor to finally meet you Leo Stenbuck. Yukinari's told us a great deal about your prowess in the kitchen, and I hope to sample some of your work at some point on this voyage if it's not too much trouble for you," the Captain remarked. Whitcomb couldn't help wondering what could have happened to the young man's left eye, which hadn't twitched or budged since he'd first seen the lad. It was shut at all times, giving him only one good eye.

"It's a privilege Captain, it's not everyday I get asked to serve on a cruiseliner's maiden voyage, especially not one THIS high-tech," Leo answered, scratching the back of his head in a semi-shy manner.

"Well then, if you'll just be seated, we'll get these semantics out of the way and let everyone get started." Whitcomb motioned, leaving the mystery of Leo's missing eye for another time.

Leo only nodded as he received a thick binder containing an obscene amount of information that he'd have to peruse in the next several days, both before the launch and immediately after it. There was no doubt he'd be able to do the job, as cooking had become something he could almost do in his sleep, if need be.

Three hours later, the orientation class was adjourned and everyone filed out to have their IDs made and finally settle into their quarters and changing clothes so that they could get to work. Leo followed their example and donned a rugged pair of boots, some worn-in blue jeans, and a simple t-shirt as he made his way to the docks. He reported into the galley supervisor and started to help unpacking the hundreds of bed frames that would soon occupy the interior of the St. Ives.

It was going to be an interesting lead-up to an interesting voyage.

* * *

Leo more or less threw himself into his bunk almost 12 hours later.

Sure he exercised regularly, but routinely lifting heavy furniture with little or no rest in between reps was a trial even for him. He must have assembled some 50-odd beds in the past several hours and then helped move in the furniture of each room to boot, a job that was very taxing physically when you were moving at the pace of the construction crew.

By some harmless tactical blunder of speech, he'd let slip that he'd worked on a construction crew before while he was standing not five feet from a crew foreman, who immediately had snapped him up as a 'room assembler' as the galley crew had a few too many workers unpacking boxes and organizing china, cutlery, and appliances.

Thus, he'd basically spent the last 12 hours in a strenuous gym workout that he'd been ill-prepared for. He'd always been more centered on physical endurance than heavy lifting and the drain on him had been considerable. Although he'd lodged a complaint with both the crew foreman and the galley chief, both men had agreed to leave him on the construction crew as they were short-staffed, with the galley chief having a small smirk on his face, though Leo could only imagine what he'd done to deserve such rigorous punishment having not even been on the ship for a single day.

Too tired to drag himself to the crew mess for whatever was being served for dinner, he grabbed three protein bars from his rucksack and almost literally inhaled them, washing it all down with a liter of water before his head hit the pillow, setting his wristwatch alarm as he went to make sure he was up in six hours for the next shift.

* * *

For the first week, Leo saw nothing but hazing from the galley crew, and had confronted them about it after three days of being on the construction crew, and had only broken away because most of the cabins had finally been outfitted and the crew had gone onto interior decorating, which Leo had told them, rather forcefully, that he had no experience working with the expensive materials that they were handling.

Understandably, they hadn't believed him whatsoever and had promptly transferred him to the engine maintenance team and those guys had promptly utilized his lean frame to crawl back into cramped quarters and conduct fine-tuning on the engines, double-checking the turbines, and what have you, but that is another story.

Leo had been bone tired when he'd faced the galley chief, who'd seen it for what it was worth and had let the kid know that he wasn't a part of the galley crew, more specifically, the Chief Cooks, just yet, despite having the Captain's seal of approval. The boy hadn't worked on a cruise liner before whereas the other seven had spent months, some even years, at sea on one. However, while the eldest Chef, an Italian named Stravinski, was a tough man, he also wasn't blind.

He acknowledged that the boy had gone several days performing work that would have put any ordinary cook into a full-blown rage, and here he was, calmly discussing what exactly he'd done to upset the other Chief Cooks to warrant being reallocated to a construction crew. Stravinski was forced to admit that the move had been childish indeed, but didn't voice that particular thought aloud as he calmly informed Leo that he would see to it that Leo was transferred back to the galley by the end of the week, satisfying both his own sense of vindication and the boy's determination to prove to the older Chiefs that they couldn't break him just by giving him hard manual labor.

After the first week, Leo had finally acclimated to the strain of working on a crew for the most part and was finally transferred back to the galley, where he met all the other Chief Cooks and was given his own area of the kitchen to use as he needed, although some of the cooks still eyed him suspiciously from time to time. Yet as the time to board passengers loomed ever closer, Leo fell into a grove that respected the elder cooks whilst also preserving his own dignity.

When the time finally came to board passengers, Leo had made a few acquaintances and was generally respected in the galley for his prowess in the kitchen and around the ship for his ability to remember a person's name despite having only met them once or twice.

Stravinski himself would be handling the food preparation for the ship's premiere high-rollers, the super-rich who wanted to be some of the first onboard the world's most luxurious ocean liner. Leo knew for a fact that Stravinski had a team of nearly ten people to help him prepare food for the nearly five-hundred high-rollers who had confirmed reservations for the maiden voyage.

Leo had just been informed by Captain Whitcomb that he'd be serving as the personal chef to some forty-odd VIPs for the duration of the voyage and nothing else. Whatever Yuki had told the Captain, it must have been one doozy of a tale to make him out to be some kind of Gourmet Chef. The only Cordon Bleu certificate he had was a forged copy for crying out loud.

_**

* * *

**_

Hundreds of miles away, in the Sinnoh region…

* * *

Satoshi sat at a table in the local Pokemon Center, digging into an early breakfast knowing that within the hour, he'd be on the road again and the next town was at least a few days travel from here on foot, and he wanted to start the trip out on a full stomach. In the corners of the room, TVs were playing an early morning news report that he only paid token attention to as he noticed his traveling companions approach the table while Pikachu continued to happily wolf down more ketchup.

"Figures that Satoshi would be down here, tanking up for the trip," Hikari thought aloud as she set her bag down and journeyed over to the breakfast buffet with Piplup in tow.

"Be sure to leave some for the rest of us, okay Satoshi?" Takeshi added as he too headed for the buffet, leaving his pack on the floor next to Satoshi's seat, who merely nodded his reply and kept happily chomping away, mirroring his pokemon to a 'T'.

It was a few minutes later before Takeshi and Hikari returned to the table, taking up the seat opposite Satoshi who pushed his plate away as they say down. The plate was nigh-on empty, as was usual of Satoshi before leaving a major town and heading out into the wild once more.

As Satoshi stretched his arms and legs out in an attempt to limber himself up for the hike, his eyes fell towards the TV in the corner opposite of himself, where he caught a brief glimpse of someone who might have been familiar had his vision not suddenly blurred from last night's sawdust in his eyes.

As he feared, despite hastily rubbing the sawdust away, the picture had moved on to display a familiar face that he hadn't thought about since his reunion with Haruka.

"Hey, check that out." He pointed to the TVs as Hikari and Takeshi both glanced at the TVs within their own fields of vision, catching the briefest of glances at the Coordinator who had been on the screen.

"Shu?" Takeshi thought aloud.

"Haruka's rival? That Shu?" Hikari asked, glancing between Takeshi and Satoshi searching their faces for an answer, "And what's he doing on TV?" She continued.

Satoshi answered her question first.

"Yeah, that's him alright," Satoshi replied, still half-paying attention to the TV news report.

Hikari remembered some of Haruka's 'horror' stories about the first few years that she'd known her rival and quietly thanked whatever gods were listening that Nozomi was infinitely nicer than the guy that Haruka had described to them. Charmer though he sometimes was, nobody appreciated being perpetually put down and underestimated.

According to Haruka, Shu had really only started to lessen the frequency of his tirades when she routinely began defeating him. Shu might have inspired Haruka to become a better Coordinator, but Nozomi was unique in that she could get her point across without making her opponents feel like dirt in the process.

Takeshi was also paying attention to the news report as a massive ship suddenly was flashed across the screen with the subtitle on the screen reading "S.S. St. Ives Maiden Voyage".

"Seems like Shu won a trip aboard that ship at the Grand Festival..." Satoshi continued as the news reporter did a small spiel on the ship and some of its creature comforts that were unique to it and it alone until other ships like it were built.

"Seems odd that Haruka wasn't in that contest as well, I didn't think she'd let her biggest rival get the better of her," Takeshi continued.

"She might have finished ahead of him, but I didn't get a chance to see it. It says that a lot of other VIPs are showing up for the maiden voyage as well," Hikari threw out, now paying attention to the news report as well.

"Wouldn't that have burnt his ego..." Satoshi thought aloud, grinning. While Hikari didn't catch it, Takeshi raised an eyebrow at the remark, but let it pass.

The report concluded and the news anchor moved onto another story. The trio sat silent for another five minutes, hoping that the news station would repeat the story so they could hear the whole thing from the beginning, but it appeared that luck was not on their side in this venture, and soon Hikari moved to grab her bag and get Piplup to its feet.

"Well, it looks like they're not going to repeat the story anytime soon and I don't think we can waste another hour of daylight seeing if they'll repeat themselves."

"Hikari's right Satoshi, we really need to get moving, the clocks moved back an hour this weekend as well, so it'll be dark way sooner. It's midmorning already, so we really don't have the time to sit around. We'll catch the report in the next town," Takeshi added, watching as Satoshi shook himself to clear his head.

"Yeah you two are right. It's time to head out," Satoshi replied as he pulled Pikachu away from the ketchup bottle and started moving towards the door.

As the trio left, Satoshi spared one last glance over his shoulder towards the TVs before stepping back out into the chilled morning air and turning west towards the next town.

"Satoshi, we need to be heading SOUTH," Hikari gently reminded him.

Sweating slightly and face red with embarrassment, Satoshi pulled the brim of his hat lower as he corrected his direction and once again took the lead.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See Prologue

Author's Note: Again, names used in this story are the original Japanese names of the characters. Pokemon names will remain in English. Examples are as follows;

**English / Japanese**

Solana / Hinata

May / Haruka

Ash / Satoshi

Brock / Takeshi

Max / Masato

Solidad / Saori

Chapter 2

* * *

It was just another day in the Johto region as four young Coordinators made their way into Olivine City after several days of hard trekking from the other side of the region. All four had plans to attend the launching of the new cruise liner, the St. Ives and all of them already had their VIP tickets, the spoils of their recent victory at the Johto Grand Festival.

The four Coordinators reached the edge of Olivine City, where all of them decided to call a short break while they refilled water bottles, escaped the heat of the day, and relaxed for a few minutes. The two girls of the group, Haruka of Petalburg City and Saori of Pewter City lounged together in amicable silence while their traveling companions, Shu and Harley quietly discussed whatever it was guys discussed.

As she and Saori lounged in the mid-afternoon sun, her thoughts drifted back towards her recent experiences preparing for the Johto Grand Festival. She had even gone so far as to journey all the way to the distant Sinnoh Region and reunited with Satoshi and Takeshi for a few days while most of them had signed up for the Wallace Cup. Though she hadn't won, she had enjoyed the time she'd had with her old friends and the chance to meet a few Coordinators from Sinnoh.

And on that note, her spirits took a hit from the fact that she had, yet again, finished as the Runner-Up, losing by a measly six points to Saori herself. Blaziken had brought her A-game to the Grand Festival, as had all of her pokemon, but Saori's Lapras had surprised her in its resistance to fire-based attacks or at least more resistant than she'd ever seen from a Lapras. It didn't help the shear frustration she felt at having been so very close to winning her first Grand Festival only to make a stupid assumption and lose because of it.

"Penny for your thoughts Haruka?"

"Oh, uh ... nothing really," she replied, looking away as she felt the same disappointment begin to build in her gut.

"You're still not hung up on losing, are you?" The older Coordinator asked, raising an eyebrow. Haruka had been distant and quiet around her even more than usual lately, now that she thought about it. Of course, it hadn't helped matters much since every Coordinator in Johto it seemed now wanted her autograph or a picture with her.

"You really do need to let it go Haruka, it's not the end of the world just because you lost. There's always next year's Grand Festival. For crying out loud, you're not even sixteen yet! Stop acting like an old maid, brush it off, and get on with your life!"

Haruka's eyes were wider than normal after that outburst, but she couldn't shake the feeling just like that. Saori sighed heavily before she continued.

"Look, you finished second out of nearly ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY Coordinators! You're beating the PANTS off of people TWICE your age with FOUR TIMES the experience! You even had ME against the ropes in the final match, though I didn't show it at the time, so you have NOTHING to feel ashamed about. You keep doing whatever it is you're doing, and next year it'll be YOU in the winner's box with YOUR name on that trophy."

"You ... really think so?" Haruka asked timidly. At this, Saori smiled gently and patted her on the shoulder.

"It was a solid nail-biter from start to finish Haruka. I doubt ANYBODY could have guessed the outcome of our match before the clock ran out. You went toe-to-toe with me and you hardly missed a step; so you made a mistake, big freaking WHOOP. You learned from it, hopefully, and won't repeat it since it cost you the win this time."

Haruka's smile returned for the most part as she took Saori's words to heart. The older girl was right; she doubted her abilities when she had no real reason to worry about such things. This too would pass and inspire her to work that much harder to fulfill her dreams.

Doubts eased, her face brightened considerably as she broached the hot topic of their group as of late, their upcoming Victory Voyage aboard the brand new S.S. St. Ives.

"So, got any plans for after our cruise?"

"Maybe. I haven't seen my folks in a while, so I figure I might jump ship in Kanto and drop by Pewter City for a week or so before I get back into the training grind. Hell, with this winner's purse, I can afford a little time off!" Saori happily exclaimed, looking at the check in her pocket one more time, marveling at all the lovely zeroes.

Haruka nodded, as she herself hadn't been at all disappointed with her runner's-up check. She knew she'd be putting a large chunk of that into savings for a rainy day. At Saori's mention of family, Haruka briefly wondered about how hers was doing lately. She hadn't seen her parents or her brother in nearly a year now, though she talked with them regularly on the videophone, so it was almost like they'd never been apart for longer than a week.

When they got to the Pokemon Center, she'd have to give them a call and see if they were available for dinner or something when the St. Ives docked in the Hoenn Region. Petalburg was a little far from the region's port city for her to make it there and back in one day, but it would be within reason for them to meet her there and make a half-weekend of it, if things all worked out.

For the moment though, she satisfied herself with a brief moment in the sun before she reluctantly got back to her feet as Shu got back to business.

"We should go check into the Center here and see about getting our itineraries for the trip. It's gonna be fun seeing what the cruise line's gonna do for us since we're among its first guests of honor."

"I'm sure they'll probably roll out the red carpet. We are in the spotlight a lot these days," Harley replied, grinning.

"Ugh ... MEN," Saori groaned. Shu and Harley had been soaking up the attention generated by their third and fourth place finishes, respectively. Seeing as how the top two finishers had been girls, Shu had brazenly called himself Johto's Number One Guy on-camera in a post-Festival interview. Saori had nothing against Shu personally, but she didn't like being around him when his head was the size of a large beach ball.

Normally, Saori would call Shu 'somewhat charming' and a 'diamond in the rough', but when his head swelled, so did his ego and his over-the-top masculinity. She'd personally seen him collect no less than eight phone numbers from girls who seemed all too willing to indulge his male ego. It also didn't hurt that he was pretty easy on the eyes; even SHE admitted to that.

"Whatever. Let's get moving, no telling how crowded the Center's gonna be with a ship launching this weekend."

The four shouldered their packs as they headed down a semi-familiar street towards the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Haruka hit her bunk like a sack of potatoes, thankful for the air conditioning and finally being out of the heat. The boys had decided to head towards the dock and get a firsthand look at the St. Ives while she had opted to stay at the center and take a nap. Shu had looked like he wanted to call her on it, but she'd turned her back on them without giving him the chance. Saori said that she would look into getting their itineraries and do a little shopping before promptly leaving for parts unknown.

After nearly thirty minutes of tossing and turning, Haruka succumbed to the fact that sleep wasn't going to find her, despite her exhaustion from the journey to Olivine. Noting the day of the week, she decided that the call to her parents was in order and proceeded back down to the lobby and sat down at one of the phones where Shu and the others wouldn't interrupt her should they get back early.

Dialing the number from memory, it only took a few rings to bring her mother to the phone at the Petalburg end and she greeted her eldest with a heartfelt smile.

"Haruka! Your father and I were wondering when you'd reach another center just this morning at breakfast. And Congratulations! We were rooting for you all the way sweetie! Before too much longer, it'll be YOU winning the trophy!"

"Thanks mom, me and the others got in a little while ago. We're in Olivine right now and we've all kind of gone our separate ways for today before the maiden voyage of the St. Ives."

"The others _and I_, Haruka..." her mother reminded her.

Biting down on her tongue, Haruka simply nodded. Her mother was a stickler for proper grammar sometimes, but it did little good to argue about it over the phone when she hadn't spoken to her family in over a week.

"Anyway, I'm excited about this trip! It's not often you get to be a guest of honor on a brand-new cruise liner!"

"Isn't that the truth; live it up within reason young lady, because I doubt another opportunity like this one will present itself anytime within the next several years," Mitsuko advised her daughter.

"So speaking of the others, how are you all getting along?" Mitsuko asked after a brief silence.

"As well as can be expected I guess since I'm more used to traveling on my own here in Johto, so it's been kind of nice to have someone to talk to again. Saori's almost like a big sister, so she's helping to keep the guys in line when they get too rowdy," Haruka explained.

"Rowdy how?"

"Well, Shu finished third, as you know, so he's lately taken to calling himself the Number One Guy of Johto and so we've had to deal with his ever-expanding ego since the Grand Festival. Normally, it's bearable, but lately, it's like he's almost throwing caution to the wind..." Haruka continued.

"Who's throwing caution to the wind?" Her father's head suddenly popped into view, a suspicious gaze in his eyes.

"Oh, nobody special Dad, just a guy I know who's trying to play up his own importance, despite the fact that the Grand Festival Champion beat him into the middle of next week."

"Oh, well then I guess there's really no reason for me to start thumping him again, now is there?" Senri asked, his eyes silently questioning his only daughter on the issue.

"Not really, Saori's been able to pop his bubble every time so far. You should see the look on his face when she takes him down a few notches in front of his doe-eyed lady friends..." Haruka fought hard, but couldn't help the giggle that escaped her remembering how speechless Shu got when Saori put him in his place.

"So these guys aren't giving you any trouble?" Senri asked, his gaze steady.

"Harley's actually been pretty cool about it. He's the one I beat to enter the Finals, but surprisingly, he hasn't held a grudge over it. After the match, he just congratulated me on my performance and told me he looked forward to facing me again next year. He used to be a real pain in the butt, even going so far as to _cross-dress_ as me for a contest, but lately he's stopped all that. I can honestly say I consider him more of a friend now than ever since I met the guy."

"Well, it's good to know that you're winning over the naysayers young lady, I'm proud of you!" Senri congratulated her.

"Your father's right dear, if you can win over your competition, then you're definitely headed in the right direction," Mitsuko added, smiling brightly.

"Thanks Mom, that means a lot to me. You too Dad, you're the greatest! By the way, is Masato around? I haven't seen him on the phone in ages."

"He's downstairs in the gym, taking care of Slaking. Would you like to talk to him, I could go get him?" Senri asked.

"That'd be great Dad, thanks."

"Anything else we need to talk about before your brother gets on Haruka?" Mitsuko asked.

"Oh, yeah, the St. Ives will be stopping over in Hoenn for a day, but Lilycove City is pretty far to make it home and back in one day even on a bike, so I was wondering if it would be too much trouble for you, Masato, and Dad to meet me in Lilycove City for the day when the St. Ives docks there during the trip?"

"I'll ask your father, but I'm sure neither of them will mind. The last time we saw you in-person was as you set out for Johto over a year ago now, so we're overdue as it is! You must have grown so much this past year," Mitsuko thought aloud.

"Oh, MOM, you're embarrassing me!" Haruka blushed, quickly looking around to see if anyone who knew her was around and sighed in relief when she didn't recognize any familiar faces.

"Well I have good reason to ask sweetie; after all, your brother's started his first growth spurt and believe it or not, he's already put on a full FOUR inches since you left and shows little sign of slowing down! Your father and I are having trouble keeping clothes on him, he's growing so fast! You're both early bloomers, just like your father was," Mitsuko explained.

Haruka's eyes went wide as dinner plates upon hearing her little brother wasn't so 'little' anymore. She mentally saw him when she'd left for Johto, the top of his head had pretty much been chin-level for her. She wasn't sure how much growing SHE had done, but another four inches for Masato would pretty much assure him that he could look her in the eye, no doubt smirking at how fast he was catching up.

"You gotta be pulling my leg Mom; NOBODY grows four inches in one year!"

"Sweetie, I've got all the receipts to prove it. He's growing like a weed and there's nothing we can do to stop it, though I wish I could."

"HARUKA!" Masato's face appeared over his mother's shoulder as if to prove what her mother was saying. Giggling a little herself, Mitsuko stood up to leave the room and let her two children get reacquainted after their long separation.

"Hiya Little Bro, what's going on?"

"Taking a break from all the chores here at home; I've been helping Dad out with keeping the Gym up, but even that's not gonna last much longer. Sis, I FOUND HIM!!" Masato positively beamed at the declaration, holding up a pokeball to the camera.

"He's resting right now, so I don't wanna disturb him, but it's so COOL! He even refused to evolve so that I would recognize him when we met again!"

Haruka inhaled sharply. The day before she was to leave for the Johto region, Masato had confided in her that he was going to take some time off to pursue '_other _things', among them that during his time off, he had talked their father into taking him 'camping' so he could travel back to an area in the middle of nowhere to search for the Ralts he had promised to come back for when he became a trainer.

On his tenth birthday, Masato had shocked them all by stating that he was taking some time off from his dream of becoming a trainer to enter and finish a specialty prep-school for Pokemon Researchers, hoping to serve as a Field Intern for Professor Birch when he finally started out on his journey.

"_It's so I have something to fall back on in case there isn't a gym for me to lead when I get to that point. It took Dad years to get the position here at Petalburg according to you and Mom, so I want to have something to do in the meantime._" Masato had explained a few years ago.

Masato had truly shown that he was serious about the idea when he crammed nearly three years of material into only half as much time. Her brother was bound and determined to excel in whatever he did, and while she was jealous sometimes at how he could learn new material almost immediately, she was happy for him and almost as proud of him as their parents.

Masato had gotten his Trainer's License long ago and she had had little doubt that he would find that little guy, even if he had to search every square foot of that Route twice over.

Haruka smiled genuinely, happy that her little brother would be able to keep his promise made so long ago when he was only seven years old. Grammer school, Prep-School, and searching had taken him almost six years, to his current age of thirteen.

"Awesome Masato! So does that mean you're going to be paying Professor Birch a visit soon?" Haruka asked.

"Already done! I start in a week, and the first place he's sending me is Sinnoh! I'm pumped! Maybe I'll even run into Satoshi and Takeshi while I'm out there! Have you heard from them at all since the Wallace Cup?"

"Can't say that I have, it's hard to catch up to those two unless Satoshi enters a televised contest or the Sinnoh League. But they're traveling with someone new who might be a little easier to track down since she signs up for pretty much every contest she happens across. Remember the girl who beat me in the Wallace Cup?" Haruka asked.

"That girl with the Piplup ... Hikari, right?" Masato concluded, snapping his fingers as the name popped into his head.

"Yeah, that's her. I've seen her name a lot more often than Satoshi's in the Sinnoh news, so you might try looking for contests that she's been in or is entering if you want to meet up with Satoshi and the others."

"Alright then, thanks sis. I'll see if I can't fit in a visit to them on my way to the assignment for Professor Birch. If not, I'll just hope they happen to cross my path at some point."

"Alright then, good luck tracking those three down. Is Dad still around?"

"Let me check, just one second..." Masato set the receiver down on the counter as he backpedaled towards the gym. He came back a few minutes later, a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry Sis, a challenger just started a battle with him and this one looks like it's gonna take a while. You might try calling back later tonight..." Masato trailed off, uncertain what his sister's schedule was like.

"Sure thing, I'm at the Pokemon Center in Olivine City, in case Dad wants to leave me a message or a time to catch up to him. I'll hopefully get to talk to you guys again before the St. Ives leaves port, so I'll see you later."

"I'll be sure to tell Dad where you're staying just as soon as he creams this guy, Sis."

"Sure thing, bye Masato," Haruka waved, smiling.

"Sayonara, Haruka," Masato returned the gesture as they hung up almost simultaneously.

Her spirits significantly lifted, Haruka stretched and glanced at the clock, noting that she'd spent over twenty minutes on the videophone.

Wondering what she could possibly do with the rest of the afternoon, she decided on grabbing a bite to eat in the cafeteria, followed by a shopping trip of her own to restock her shrinking backpack. A new bathing suit couldn't hurt either as she WAS about to go on a cruise.

Smiling to herself, Haruka stood up after thoroughly stretching the kinks out of her muscles and joints, heading towards the promising scent of food and running down her mental list of stores in Olivine City that were nearby.

* * *

Shu had to admit it; that was a BIG ship.

Typically, he rode on smaller vessels and ferries that ran express voyages between regional port cities that were within a few days' journey of each other. The biggest of said ferries never reached lengths any greater than perhaps four hundred feet. This particular vessel was over twice as long and, if the press release was to be believed, could travel over ten times that distance in about the same amount of time. The S.S. St. Ives could probably make it to Australia and back in a mere three weeks at full steam.

Harley seemed to be in a similar state of mild shock.

"Well _Spank Me ROSY_," Harley uttered quietly, taking in the sheer size of the St. Ives with eyes that wouldn't have believed a ship could be that big and still float, if the evidence wasn't right there in front of them.

"They're really going to GIVE us FREE Staterooms on a ship like THIS?!" Shu was dumbfounded. He'd seen some of the people who were hanging around town, and every single one of them seemed to be walking around with a five-figure sum of cash hanging out of their pockets. Not only that, but others who were present included Active Grand Marshalls, former League Champions, and even some former Grand Festival Winners, including last year's Festival Champion. Whatever the price their staterooms would have been for anyone else on this trip must have cost a few small fortunes.

The ship wasn't slated to leave for another few days and already people were arriving to see if they could board early and look around the first of such massive and luxurious cruise liners. Of course, everyone was turned away to ensure that no one could inadvertently sneak aboard and do something catastrophic, like plant a bomb. That had been the reason they themselves had been turned away, and both were glad that such measures were being taken. That fiasco a few years back between Team Magma and Team Agua in the Hoenn Region had made many in the world fearful of traveling on planes, large boats, and other such forms of mass transportation.

"I guess it can't be helped. It must have been outrageously expensive to build the ship, so they want to make sure that it makes an outstanding first impression so that they can keep it booked year-round and make a profit on their investment. It's the kind of thing any smart businessman does," Harley explained.

"I wasn't aware you were a businessman at all Harley," Shu remarked, rolling his eyes slightly.

"I'm not, but my Uncle Wolf is one of the best in Lilycove City."

"I thought you were from Slateport City?" Shu thought aloud, slightly puzzled at how such a thing was possible.

"My Dad's a trainer who co-owns and manages a shop in Slateport that Uncle Wolf originally started up in Lilycove. It's not that he moved the shop, he just opened a second one and called it the same thing. More shops equal more customers which equals more revenue and potentially greater profit. Business one-o-one, as Uncle Wolf called it," Harley continued.

"OOH." Shu's eyebrow rose appreciatively at Harley's explanation.

"But enough of that, it's obvious the ship's not letting anyone on for a sneak peek, so I suggest we head to the local market and see if we can find anything that'll make our trip more enjoyable, memorable, or preferably a little of both."

Shu only nodded and turned to follow Harley as they made their way towards Olivine's nearby open-air market.

* * *

Along Main Street, down the center of Olivine City's business district, a young woman with striking carmine hair wearing a business suit strides along with clear purpose, giving off the impression that she knows exactly where she is going and will not be deterred or delayed in getting there.

She wears a pair of stylish sunglasses to protect her eyes from the midday sun as four other people follow her lead down the street, blending into the crowd almost seamlessly. None of them talk, although a few of them sparingly make eye contact and almost seem to communicate without words.

They eventually enter a non-descript building with spaces rented out to several companies and proceeded towards the stairwell near the back of the lobby. There was no check-in desk or a security guard in sight, as this is an area of town that has lower crime rates and thus the owners can't justify the expense to the tenants, who all have their own security measures in place.

They proceed downstairs two levels into the building's sub-basement, below the machinery that services the building's needs, and key in a ten-digit code that opens a panel where all five of them then swipe a keycard and place their palm flat on a green panel that then scans their biometrics before a heavy steel door slides open to admit them.

They all remain quiet until all five are present in the room and the sound-proof door has slid shut for the last time. The young woman who led the way heads over to a large desk laid into the wall where she places her briefcase and clicks open the locks. The inside of the briefcase contains a sophisticated communications hub, complete with cutting-edge encryption software and even a widescreen monitor. She quickly powers up the device, enters all the proper access codes, and links up with the mission planner for the final rundown and gear preparations.

The hub connects and the young woman begins the transmission.

"This is Sears, we're ready on this end Commander."

"Right on schedule; Excellent work Emma. I take it there were no problems with the insertion?" An older woman appears on the screen; her dark eyes and midnight blue hair already make her appear somewhat threatening.

"None ma'am. We've reached the depot and are ready to assemble everything we'll need. Are the other teams in position?"

The older woman nods with an unmistakable gleam in her eye. Any seasoned fighter knows that such a look means only one thing, a twisted mind gleefully at work. She continues without missing a beat.

"Alright then, as this is the final rundown for your first mission as a Team Leader Emma, give me the mission plan step-by-step to ensure that there aren't going to be any foul ups," the older woman orders.

Emma only nods and mentally runs through the plan for what must be the five-hundredth time, but she knows that it's been drilled into her so that she could almost run this mission blind-folded. This way, she won't have to waste time thinking about what she's _supposed_ to doing at any point, she'll simply act like she's running another drill.

"Yes, Commander Watson." As ordered, Emma proceeded to explain the plan to her Commander, going over each step in sufficient detail to prove that she knew what to do backwards and forwards, even answering a few wildcard questions that Watson threw in there simply to test Emma's ability to think on-the-fly.

"Well then, it would appear that the mission planners made the right decision when they appointed you to lead this mission Team Leader Sears. Very well then, pack your gear and move out when you're ready, you've got a boat to catch," Watson ordered.

"Aye ma'am; but won't The Board be upset about the mission? They've never approved of anything this big before..." Emma trailed off, unsure how to word the feeling in her gut that something ... just didn't feel right about this mission.

"Which should serve as proof that Team Galactic is changing its tactics in order to achieve its goals; it would do you well to remember your place Team Leader. The Board knows what it's doing and has a much better view of the big picture than you or I," Commander Watson immediately answered.

Emma shook her head, dismissing such thoughts of nonsense.

"Yes, I understand Commander. I don't know what came over me; I apologize." Emma snapped off a salute to emphasize her point.

Commander Watson nodded.

"Good. Prepare your team. Move out when ready; Watson out," the commander said, terminating the connection from her end.

Emma let out a long sigh after the screen went black, exuding relief from almost every pore in her body.

"_Won't the Board be UPSET _... have you LOST your MIND?!" One of the men on Emma's team stepped forward, grabbing her forearm roughly, a move which cost him dearly as Emma swiftly grabbed his wrist, twisted in a dizzying array of movement, ending with her team member on his back, fiercely glaring at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Emma hissed.

"I asked first..." The young man countered, grunting as Emma held him firmly in a position that was considerably painful.

Emma released her hold and helped him up, it was a fair question.

"I don't know Johnny ... something feels ... OFF," Emma replied.

Johnny was stopped in his tracks at the declaration. Emma's instinct had saved them on more than one occasion already, and if she was getting a _funny feeling_, then it was more than likely worth some extra attention.

"Off HOW?" Johnny asked.

"Not sure just yet," Emma replied, turning to face the rest of her team.

"Until further notice, _stay frosty_. Be on your toes as much as possible, report anything out of the ordinary, and assume someone we don't know is watching us. Until then, we keep to the plan, got it?"

The rest of Emma's team nodded silently, equally aware that Emma's _feelings_ weren't something to be easily dismissed.

"Let's pack our gear and get it to our mole. He's gonna need time to ferret it all aboard without a hitch, so we need to give him as much time as possible before the St. Ives sets sail."

Everyone nodded and broke up to seek out various pieces of equipment from the secret weapons depot and pack it amongst their everyday items as efficiently as possible.

* * *

Several hundred miles away in the Sinnoh region, Commander Watson idly swirled a snifter full of brandy in a dark room as she watched a glowing grey monitor with an almost forlorn look, as if she couldn't decide whether to feel regretful or not.

"Make me proud ... Emily."

* * *

Hinata had honestly never felt this uncomfortable on an assignment in her entire six-year career as a Pokemon Ranger.

She adjusted her clothes for what felt like the one-thousandth time as she arrived in the Olivine City open-air market where she was supposed to meet her contact. She'd been called in on her week off just as she'd been heading out the door to head for the beach to deliver a small package to another Ranger who was also between missions. She'd reluctantly taken the mission, seeing as how no one else was available, and brought her packed bag with her to HQ.

She was really glad she did when her handler had told her that she needed to be in plain clothes to make this delivery so she had promptly changed, reviewed the mission documents, and headed to pick up the package. The 'package' turned out to be a small jump-drive no bigger than her thumb and she'd frowned when she'd first seen it. Yet she'd forced down the minor feelings of outrage that threatened to grow and break loose and left HQ intent on completing the mission as quickly as possible so that she could salvage her own travel plans and enjoy the rest of her vacation.

As per the orders for her mission, she had ditched her usual Ranger uniform for civilian clothes. Her outfit consisted of a modest pair of slacks, a white t-shirt underneath a navy blue blouse that somewhat resembled her uniform jacket, and her traditional bandana. Under her arm, she was carrying today's newspaper with the jump drive nestled securely in the section her contact would be looking for it, the crossword puzzle.

Hinata had been wondering why this type of meeting was taking place since her contact could have just as easily arrived at HQ to pick up the mission file herself. She sincerely hoped there was a good explanation for all of this, because as much as she enjoyed being a Ranger, she was starting to dislike all the hours she was putting in lately. She acknowledged that times were tight for the Ranger Corps though, so she would grit her teeth and bear with the fact that her private life was practically nonexistent, if only to keep up morale in the rank and file. Idly, she adjusted her shoulders and ruffled Plusle's fur, glad for the energetic little mouse's company on a day like today, when everything seemed just a little too unfair.

Her unasked question's answer appeared to her some minutes later as a young woman idly grabbed her wrist as she walked by a random table.

Hinata's eyes were instantly drawn to the very attractive brunette sitting at the table with a heavily marked crossword puzzle sitting in front of her. Her legs were off the side and crossed in lady-like fashion.

"You look lost, why not sit down for a while until your party arrives?" The brunette said while looking up at Hinata through the rims of her sunglasses.

Hinata was suddenly examining the brunette much closer than she had originally. She must have passed by this woman twice or more, and yet she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary about her, although she did fit the general description of her contact. Maybe that was why this woman couldn't be seen in or around Ranger HQ, it might very well have compromised her own assignment. Hinata made it appear that she was considering her offer before she pulled out the chair opposite the brunette and proceeded to sit down. She personally had no idea what to say, so she let the brunette make the first move.

"So what's the craziest thing you've done lately?" She asked, eyes twinkling.

Hinata's eyes widened a bit more; this was the randomized code phrase that she was told would be used by her contact. Such code phrases used by the Rangers Corps were typically hand-picked by the contact from some randomized set of codebooks that were all very specific editions of common literary works available at most local bookstores. Of course, the interpretation of these codebooks changed frequently, so unless someone was 'in-the-know' about how to interpret an encoded set of instructions, it would simply come across as harmless small talk or a really vague and complex riddle.

"Went out to a REALLY crazy party, if that even counts..." Hinata replied, telling a half-truth.

"Sometimes it does," the brunette replied.

"But lately, just catching up with an old friend, but they don't appear to be here yet," Hinata replied, winking at her supposed contact as she idly twirled her fingers, discreetly tracing the letters R – A – N – G – E – R on the table's surface, the sign that she was the contact this person was supposed to be meeting.

"Just as well; I'm feeling charitable today, order something. I'll pick up the tab," her host responded, blinking her eyes in a semi-flirtatious fashion.

Hinata blushed slightly, not quite prepared for such a blunt approach as she waved a waiter down and placed an order for a sandwich and a drink.

"I don't even know your name…" Hinata nearly stuttered as she grasped her ice water that had initially been set on the table.

The woman's flirtations abruptly dried up as she leaned forward, extended her hand, and shook Hinata's outstretched palm firmly.

"Chang; Reiko Chang."

Hinata's eyes nearly turned into dinner plates. This name, she'd heard before. Reiko Chang was something of an underground celebrity amongst the Ranger Corps. She supposedly took long-term undercover missions that normal Rangers balked at for various reasons. It took a special kind of nerve to join the Undercover Ops Division, especially if you were a woman. Rumors abounded about how she routinely slept with men in order to get information amongst other ... less conventional ... things.

"Hinata, pleased to make your acquaintance," Hinata replied, her palms beginning to sweat.

"Is that current?" Reiko asked, pointing towards her newspaper.

Hinata suddenly remembered her mission and carefully tried to see if anyone was looking.

"It's clear, don't' worry about it Hinata. I'm between jobs at the moment so there's no one keeping tabs on me, at least not while I'm wearing THIS face," Reiko answered Hinata's unspoken question as she handed the paper over.

Hinata had tried to keep an eye on the jump-drive as Reiko opened the paper straight to the crossword section, but the young woman must have been a sleight-of-hand artist as Hinata never saw the drive or if Reiko had hidden anything on her person while opening the paper. She'd been watching the paper so hard that she hadn't heard Reiko's last remark, otherwise she might have wondered about the 'face' comment.

"So how's life treating you Hinata?" She asked.

"Well enough I suppose. There certainly isn't a shortage of work in the office, let me tell you." Hinata sighed, recalling how much more often Rangers were getting called out on missions these days. She herself hadn't had two consecutive days off in nearly two months before she'd requested time off for her current vacation.

"Nature of the job I'm afraid, Hinata," Reiko replied, the amusement clear in her voice.

"Do you guys get time off? I mean I've always wondered if there were any perks to working the riskier sections of the Corps..." Hinata trailed off.

Reiko put her crossword down and stared over Hinata's shoulder blankly, as if seeing something that no one else could.

Reiko knew that Hinata was, of course, referring to how the Undercover Ops Division had come by its name. It was common knowledge now, given that a few years back, one of the their more renowned agents inadvertently had their cover blown and the Rangers had made a public statement confirming the existence of what was then called Section 7.

S-7 had been a collection of specially trained Rangers whose goal was to combat Organized Crime from the inside-out. Once they'd gone public, they were renamed the Undercover Ops Division, and got some decent press in the process. Reiko had joined them quite a while ago if all the stories were to be believed. Hinata didn't know much about her dining companion, but she admitted that what they did was crucial in keeping Pokemon safe around the world, as well as humans.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have zoned out there for a minute," Reiko answered, shaking her head and smiling again as the waiter delivered Hinata's order.

"Yeah, we get vacations every now and again. I'm actually under orders to relax for the duration of my travels to my next assignment. All told, it's ten days of R&R, but then I just got finished with an assignment that took nearly five months to complete."

"Five MONTHS?!" Hinata squeaked, her shock nearly palpable.

"Yeah, that's why they try and give us time off when they can. We've had operatives burn out on us before, and the job is high-stress-high-maintenance. You get used to it after a while, or you have a psychotic episode," Reiko trailed off, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Is it worth it? I mean, lately even I've noticed how every time we manage to put somebody away, three more pop up to take their place."

Reiko looked off into the distance once again as she appeared to seriously consider the question.

"When I was a kid, I met a guy, BRIEFLY, who put that kind of question into the proper perspective for me. He said that '_Ernest Hemingway once wrote that the World is a fine place, and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part._' I was maybe eight at the time," Reiko explained.

"He must have been quite a guy, insightful if nothing else," Hinata noted.

"Oh trust me, he was more than insightful," Reiko said as her face turned grim and her gaze seemed to land smack in the middle of the table.

The two continued their friendly discussion for nearly another thirty minutes after Hinata's sandwich arrived before a small gathering of people outside the café drew Reiko's attention. Hinata followed her line-of-sight and saw a pack of young ladies nearly swarming around two guys she thought looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she might have seen them before.

Their mutual question didn't remain unanswered for long as another young woman suddenly sat up from her table, asking her friend loudly,

"HEY! Isn't that Shu?! 'Johto's Number One Guy'? Oh, I've GOT to get his autograph!"

"And Harley too! WOW!!" Her friend replied excitedly as they hastily threw a few bills on the table and nearly ran out the door, joining the growing throng around the two young men.

Hinata slapped her forehead, remembering the two from the awards ceremony for the Johto Grand Festival she'd caught on TV. To her surprise, Haruka's familiar face had been in the Runner's Up spot, representing Petalburg City. She was happy for the young woman; already attaining international success despite being only ... how old was she now ... fifteen? Regardless, it was an impressive achievement considering all the competition she had from other Coordinators.

"You know anything about that?" Reiko asked Hinata.

"Yeah, those two are the third and fourth-place winners from the Johto Grand Festival this year," Hinata replied.

"I fail to see how that makes one of them 'Johto's Number One Guy' when he only won the Bronze Medal." Reiko thought aloud, her eyebrow rising questioningly.

"First and Second place were both won by girls, so I guess to a guy's ego, that would technically make him Number One Guy."

"Huh ... GUYS and their EGOS; will they never learn?" Reiko thought aloud.

"Hey, don't count them all out. I've met some nice young guys along the way," Hinata countered, remembering Haruka's former traveling companions.

"Yeah, well in the UOD, we don't get many of the egotistically NAÏVE sort. We tend to go straight for the jugular and cut right to the criminals, who are simply fantastically egotistical. It was great meeting you. I'm gonna get going; best of luck to you and your Plusle," Reiko said, scratching the little mouse behind the ears as she gathered up her bag and left a few large bills on the table to cover the check with a generous tip.

"Thanks, good luck to you too. Chances are you'll need it a lot more than I will."

_Sister, you have no idea._ Reiko thought to herself as she waved goodbye to Hinata and proceeded back to her hotel. It was time to let her pokemon out for a while and pack her bags. She had a ship to catch in a few days.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Standard rules apply: I do not own any part of the Pokemon Franchise on any level and this story is written purely for the mutual enjoyment of the fan community.

A/N: My thanks go out to _**Rave the Rich**_ and _**blupheonix5**_, who were among the first to review the story. **Rave** also served as the beta-reader for the first three chapters, so he gets another shout-out for being just plain awesome that way. Cause if it weren't for him and his support as an established Pokemon writer, I doubt this project would have gotten the shot in the arm that it did.

This chapter also marks the first time where the main anime characters will have their surnames for this story used, some will seem familiar. This is intentional, but should not make the story any less enjoyable.

* * *

Chapter 3

_

* * *

_

He's sprinting across open ground, the pain in his lungs and the burning of his muscles not registering whatsoever in his adrenalin-flooded brain. Bullets are missing him by mere centimeters as he dives into cover, returning fire as he goes.

_He can finally see her. Being dragged away by the boss and his henchmen, kicking and hissing the whole way, trying valiantly to slow their progress and buy him time to catch up to them._

_**That's it Lena, keep fighting. I'm comin' as fast as I can.**_

_Their eyes meet briefly and they convey a myriad of emotions as Selena momentarily stops struggling with her captors. Words are not needed between them at this point._

_**I love you Leo.**_

_**I love you too Selena. Just a little longer, I promise.**_

_**Don't keep a girl waiting Stroud.**_

_(A blinding flash of white light)_

_They are inside a building, surrounded by several bloody corpses, almost all of them missing limbs. Her sword is grasped firmly in his right hand, slick with blood with a captured pistol occupying his left, trained on the boss._

_There are only five of them left now, including the boss. That won't be for much longer though, as Leo knows that reinforcements are only minutes away. It's now or never._

"_**Let her go, and I walk out of here with her. Nobody else dies. Nothing else gets destroyed."**__ He is tense, but calm._

"_**You were warned to back off boy. I refuse to let a wet-nosed BRAT tell me how to run my business. I expand wherever, whenever, however I see fit. If I let you go, all this random destruction simply starts all over again. In a few minutes, you'll be dead and I'll be able to get back to work without having to worry about all the setbacks you've caused,"**__ the boss explains, his sneer bordering on maniacal._

_A massive explosion rocks the very foundations of the building, setting everyone in the room off-kilter, except for Leo._

_**Thanks Drake.**_

_In the few seconds it takes for the henchmen to regain their balance, Leo takes advantage of their lapse of attention and leaps towards the closest one, his blade now bright red and slicing through the man's flesh like a hot knife through butter and gutting him like a fish. He gets off two rapid shots at the two henchmen furthest from him, both of them headshots, dropping them almost instantly. The final henchman drops his gun and strips the pistol from Leo's left hand, keeping a very tight grip on his sword arm._

_Their scuffle ends a few moments later with Leo knocking the man out cold with a powerful blow to his solar plexus. Time seems to slow to a crawl as Leo drops his sword, turns in the direction of the boss, making another leap towards the first henchman's fallen weapon, grabbing it off the floor as he rolls into a kneeling position with the submachine gun trained on the boss, who was still using Selena as a human shield._

_Tunnel vision._

_A fading scream._

_Two shots go off._

"_**LEON!!"**_

* * *

Leo bolts upright in his bunk, gasping loudly, looking around frantically. His left hand twitches, as if expecting to be holding something.

It takes a full ten seconds for him to orient himself. His breathing evens out and his brain finally catches up with his body. He pushes the covers off and turns to the side, putting his feet on the cold floor, and leans forward placing his head in his hands.

"_It's been a long time since I had THAT dream,"_ Leo thinks to himself.

Even now, years after the fact, that night still haunted him. He could barely stand to think about it most days because it brought back that deep ache in his soul, that ever-present reminder of his failure to keep his promise to her.

"'ey man, ya alright?"

Leo's head jerked to the side, spotting Murphy, and instantly began forcing himself to calm down. It would do no good to worry his bunkmates next door with his multitude of mental issues.

"Yeah Murph, just a bad dream," Leo replied, rubbing his eyes lest the tears start to form.

Murphy McManus was a good man, both him and his brother Conner. They were Scotch-Irish-born fraternal twins who had been together practically since they day they were born. Murph was an engineer working with the maintenance crews while his brother Conner was a Chief Cook alongside Leo in the St. Ives kitchens. He'd met Murph during his first week 'hazing' experience in the engine room and they'd become well acquainted in their short tenure together. Both of the brothers spoke with pronounced Irish accents, but thankfully, this didn't affect their communication skills unless someone was simply hard of hearing.

The third night he'd stayed on the ship, he'd inadvertently walked into the shared bathroom to find Murph brushing his teeth, much to their mutual shock. A few minutes later, Murph was ecstatic that his new friend was right next door and he'd quickly put a good word in with Conner once Leo told him how he'd ended up in the engine room, which Leo thought was perhaps one of the reasons why Stravinski had pulled him back into the kitchen so quickly.

Nevertheless, Leo was appreciative to have company such as theirs. When he'd endured his first week onboard, Conner and Murph had brought out a stash of high-end whiskey and toasted to a safe voyage, the reason for which Conner explained after they'd all taken a shot.

"_Me an' Murph, we been on ships nearly all our lives. Whenever we come onto a new boat, we christen it like any good Irishman would, so that we all get back to shore safe'n sound," he'd said, grinning._

"_Yeah Leo, a little bit'a luck never hurt nothin'," Murph echoed, tossing back a second shot with his brother._

Leo had always noticed that almost all mariners had their own superstitions about going out to sea, so he wisely just kept his thoughts to himself and let the two brothers tell their stories.

Now, he was beginning to wish that Murph would take a hint and leave him alone.

"You wanna talk about it? Seems like it spooked ya a bit," Murph noted.

"Not really. I just need to be alone for a while," Leo replied.

"Alright man, let us know if you need anythin'."

Leo merely nodded, turning his head so that Murph could see his good eye. Murph nodded back before disappearing through the shared bathroom back to his own bunk.

Leo finally glanced at his wristwatch, noting that it was almost five in the morning. Shaking his head, he knew from experience that he wouldn't be sleeping again tonight. Leo pulled on a light pair of pants and a workout shirt, intent on spending some time in the ship's gym which was open 24/7 to crewmembers. Double checking his pockets to make sure he had his ID and room key, he left his bunk as silently as possible to avoid waking Murph and Conner again.

He arrived at the gym in record time, swiped his ID through the card reader, and started his workout. Sprints, weights, and training katas for his multiple martial arts were really all he had time for since he had to be on-duty in a few hours. It took him nearly an hour to work up a good sweat, doing his best to focus on pushing his body to its limit and clearing his mind of that agonizing dream. After a full ninety minutes, he felt calm enough to begin interpreting what might be the cause of his dream suddenly resurfacing after being absent for nearly five years.

He ducked into one of the aerobics rooms that offered an outside view of the ocean and settled into a meditative stance, trying to remember what had triggered the dream last time.

Typically, interpreting dreams was one of Kurt's many specialties, but Kurt and all the others on his team were at Yuki's ranch in the Kanto region for some well-earned R&R of their own. He couldn't do this over the phone, so he'd just have to tough it out this time and connect all the dots himself.

He pulled up a mental calendar of that month five years ago when he'd last had the nightmare. The only job he could recall taking that month had been a low-profile surveillance job. He'd been using his private-eye persona with all applicable identity papers and had even taken some extra precautions to avoid tipping off his target that they were being tailed. All told, it should have been a simple mission, but it had fish-tailed out of control when he'd finally gotten the evidence he needed to satisfy the job's contract.

He'd made a clean getaway, or so he thought. He'd put a fair bit of distance between himself and the target before stopping for the night at a low-end motel to get some rest before returning to fulfill the contract. He'd set up the nightwatch as usual with Treebeard taking the first watch, but after such a long mission with little or no time for sleep, Treebeard had nodded off as had everyone else on the team.

Now that he thought about it, the nightmare had, in fact, saved his life. He'd awoken that night much the same way he'd done a few hours ago. The only difference was that he'd woken up to see headlights outside his room and hear footsteps approaching the door. He'd jarred the rest of his team awake and they had escaped after a frenzied battle in the motel's parking lot.

Still no closer to a reasonable conclusion, Leo noticed the first rays of sunlight peering over the horizon in the east, illuminating Olivine City in early morning hues of red and gold. He smiled slightly, glad for the fact that some things would never change.

"What does it mean?" Leo thought aloud.

"Does it even mean anything..." Leo trailed off, his lone eye settling on the floor. He remained there until his watch alarm went off, signaling that he was supposed to be waking up right about now. After turning the alarm off, Leo drew in a deep breath, held it a moment, and then let it out slowly, allowing the tension to leave his body as he exhaled.

Standing up, Leo noted that today was the day that the St. Ives would begin boarding VIPs and First Class passengers in preparation for its departure tomorrow afternoon and remembered that he'd be meeting the people he was going to be feeding during this trip later today. In a way, he was glad for the distraction since he didn't really want to dwell on the nightmare's presence in the back of his mind. Idly, he stared at his own reflection in one of the window panes.

"On your feet Ranger..." he mumbled to himself as he left the aerobics room and headed back to his bunk. No doubt Conner and Murph would be up soon, and he really didn't want to have to wait on them since they took nearly fifteen minutes apiece in the shower.

Upon returning to his room, he finds that Murph has already left for his shift in the engine room and Conner is just now getting out of the shower. Even through the steam, Conner sees Leo and grins.

"So lad, are ya ready for the beziest day of yur life?" The sheer enthusiasm Conner radiates at the challenge of cooking for so many people is contagious and Leo feels his spirits lift just from being in the same room as Conner.

"Ready as I'm gonna get kilt-boy!" He replies, his own grin widening.

"If'n I didn't know better laddie, I'd say you was winkin' at me!"

"Sorry bub, I don't swing that way," Leo replied, removing his muscle shirt and pants before grabbing a towel.

Conner's smile has yet to fade as he swaggers out of the bathroom, making Leo rightfully suspicious. Conner and Murph tend to smile like that when they've pranked someone, which leads Leo to a slightly bleak conclusion.

"You two used all the hot water, didn't you?" Leo asks, somewhat let down.

Conner's only response is to close the door to his bunk, grinning ear to ear as he fights to contain the laughter bubbling up in his throat.

* * *

Haruka had to admit, when she woke up this morning, she had NOT been expecting THIS.

Idly, she pinched herself for what must have been the tenth time since they had climbed into the stretch "Hummer-sine" as Harley had dubbed it. Looking around, she once again took in the sight of the top ten Johto Festival contestants all stretched out in the cavernous Hummer-sine.

Shu had actually been the one to break the initial silence that had settled over the entire group when all ten of them had climbed in after their luggage had been loaded, for which everyone was mildly grateful. The addition of this first-class ride over to dock where the St. Ives was moored had been sprung on them only this morning, as she and her three companions had all met downstairs to walk over to the ship for boarding.

Needless to say, Haruka was pleasantly surprised at the sudden change and had settled into one of the rear-most seats after claiming an ice-cold Sprite from the fully stocked fridge. Everyone was making idle chit-chat about the Finals and what a show that the Top 4 had put on, pulling out all the stops all the way up to the nerve-racking finale between Saori and Haruka.

The ride hadn't lasted but maybe fifteen minutes, but another shock was awaiting them when they arrived at the St. Ives' dock.

A massive horde of Coordinating fans, all cheering loudly and waving signs through the air as some eagerly held out blank notepads and pens, hoping for a handshake, an autograph, or maybe even a picture. Though somewhat intimidated, Haruka followed Saori's lead and put on a bright smile, walking slowly towards the gangplank leading onto the St. Ives. Apparently, they were going to be some of the very first passengers to set foot on the ship.

Although time seemed to have slowed to a crawl, Haruka began to enjoy the bonding between her and the gathered fans. She even found herself blushing slightly when she came across the first batch of people who were specifically shouting her name, immediately stopping to sign autographs and pose for a total of three pictures. A quick glance to either side of her proved that each of the top ten winners was doing something similar and that there was no rush for them to board the ship, so Haruka took her time and found out she had quite a following since she'd entered the Wallace Cup, she'd just never had the chance to meet any of her more loyal fans.

Some fifteen minutes later, she had just finished up signing an autograph for a doe-eyed young girl when she was tapped on the shoulder by none other than Harley, gently pointing towards the ship. Haruka glanced around to find that she was the last of the Festival winners alongside Harley to begin heading towards that gangplank leading up to the main deck of the St. Ives. After thanking all her fans for supporting her, she and Harley made their way onto the ship, waving back to the crowd as they climbed up the ramp. It was only when the roaring of the crowd had sufficiently died down that Haruka could begin to hear herself think again.

"Whew! I never expected that!" she explained, breathless to the less flustered Harley, a slight blush still on her cheeks.

"It is a little intense the first time, isn't it?" Harley remarked, grinning sheepishly himself.

"I hope I didn't hold everyone up, I didn't mean to lose track of time."

"Don't fret, Saori was the one who sent me after you. Apparently, we're now on our way to meet with the Captain who's going to give us a personal tour of the ship while the crew takes care of our luggage."

"Wow, talk about First Class. I could get used to this."

"Amen to that," Harley replied as a crewman ushered them into a small meeting room where various Pokemon League and Coordinating officials were milling around. At a glance, Haruka would say there were only about fifty to sixty people in the room, which made her feel like part of some elite, mega-exclusive club. There were even light snacks and refreshments at the back of the room.

Within a few minutes of Haruka and Harley's entering the room, an older man moved towards the podium at the front of the conference room and tapped the microphone, asking for quiet. As the assembled group settled down, Haruka and Harley found Saori and Shu standing off to the side of the snack bar and rejoined them as they all began looking for seats. Minutes later, everyone was seated and the aged gentleman spoke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to be the first to officially welcome you aboard the S.S. St. Ives. I am Captain Daniel Whitcomb and I will be your host for the rest of the morning and part of this afternoon. Gathered here are some of the most prominent and up-and-coming faces of Coordinating and Pokemon Training in the world today. You will be the very first to be given a grand tour of all public areas on this ship. I assure you that our investors have spared no expense and that you are, without a doubt, the Guests of Honor on the finest ship in the world. Now, without further adieu, let's begin by familiarizing you all with the basic layout of the ship and what you, as our Guests of Honor, are privileged to whilst on our fine vessel," the Captain pronounced. At the Captain's signal, several crewmen began passing out information packets to each of the VIPs to allow them to follow along with Whitcomb's presentation.

* * *

"So things are going smoothly?" a soft female voice questioned over a young man's cell phone.

"Like clockwork, just like I said it would. You delivered all the equipment with plenty of time to spare, so there were no complications," the young man answered in an even tone.

"You've already finished onloading?" she asked.

"Yes, an opportunity came up last night that gave me a chance to bring the entire load aboard with minimal risk. Everything was secured according to the instructions."

"Hmm ... seems I might have underestimated you Willy; excellent work. I'll be sure to give you a little something extra next time I see you," she replied.

"I'll be sure to let you know if there's anything specific you might be able to help me out with, until then, expect me when you see me," the young man said, his mind already beginning to churn with possibilities.

"Well said young man, be see'in ya," she said right before the line disconnected.

The young man shook his head slightly. Double-speak was never his preferred manner of communicating, but even he had to admit that if anyone was listening in on that phone call, they wouldn't have much to go on since his cover story was airtight. He didn't like his codename either; 'Willy' just didn't sit well on his tongue, but he couldn't deny that such an innocuous name made people more likely to ignore him. Not to mention that he wasn't dumb enough to use his real name in an operation as big as this one, otherwise they'd be hunting him till' doomsday.

So he would simply grit his teeth and bear with it, especially since there were far worse names than Wesley Sergeivich.

_

* * *

_

Some hours later...

"And that concludes our tour ladies and gentlemen. Now, if you'll please follow my first officer, we'll introduce you to the next part of your VIP package for the maiden voyage." Captain Whitcomb explained as First Officer Powell motioned for the nearest person to stay close to him.

The fairly large group backtracked towards B Deck, where most of the entertainment and dining facilities were located on the ship. There was much conversation between those in the group, wondering exactly what this latest feature of their trip really was.

"My money's on a private dining room," Shu thought aloud, his hands in his pockets as he strode along between Saori and Haruka.

"That would be nice, since I have a feeling the main dining rooms are going to get pretty loud when they get filled to capacity," Saori added, remembering that those rooms had a seating capacity of several hundred each. They resembled large restaurants and the rooms' acoustics did a good job of cutting down ambient noise levels, but Saori had long preferred eating meals with a few close friends in more private settings than what most restaurants typically afforded their patrons.

"I think it's a little insane how they're picking up the tab for almost everything. Here we are, the Top 4 of the Johto Grand Festival, with prize money coming out our ears and they aren't letting us SPEND any of it," Haruka said, feeling slightly put out.

Her comment drew chuckles from all three of her companions, who knew all about Haruka's penchant for 'Victory Shopping Sprees'. Despite only being the runner-up, nobody objected to her most recent Spree since she had only lost the Final by a handful of points against pretty big odds.

Another few minutes passed in amicable silence for the four Coordinators even as others around them continued to speak in muted voices as First Officer Powell approached a set of double doors and signaled the man stationed on one side to open it for their guests while he moved to the opposite side and did the same with the remaining door.

The sight that greeted them threw Haruka into an immediate moon-eyed state herself, with her three companions fighting not to drool at the three long tables against the walls of the room ahead them and on either side, piled high with food that nearly hurt to look at and smell on an empty stomach. Six servers busied themselves around the room, setting places at tables and putting the finishing touches on the buffet lines.

One young man in a white chef's outfit was moving at a quick pace into and out of the kitchen attached to the room, which everyone idly heard First Officer Powell identify as the VIP Dining Room. Harley had to reach out and grab the collar of Haruka's shirt when she started moving forward, almost in a trance. The Captain and First Officer were themselves nearly overwhelmed by the heady aromas permeating the air as they composed themselves enough to begin getting everyone seated.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll have a seat anywhere you like, we'll get lunch underway," Al said as he watched a purple-haired young man in a green outfit almost have to drag a young lady to a table. He grinned a little, as his youngest daughter was almost the same way when it came to food.

"I must say that young Stenbuck doesn't disaapoint. I can't remember being this hungry in a LONG time," Captain Whitcomb quietly remarked.

"You had doubts?" Powell asked.

"A few, but it's like that with any new crewmember you bring onboard. Although with a spread like this, I feel a little silly for doubting him now."

"I'm sure he's used to it Captain," Al replied as he and Whitcomb took a seat nearest to the door leading into the kitchen.

No sooner had they been seated when Leo gently tapped a water glass with a fork, bringing all attention squarely on him. Almost everyone in the room quickly noticed that the young cook's left eye seemed permanently closed.

"Greetings and salutations everyone. I imagine that many of you are famished after your long tour, so I'll make this part as short as humanly possible. Plates are located at each buffet table, please use a clean plate for each visit, and the servers will be glad to take your used plates off your table for you, so please leave them there when you're finished. There are a wide variety of dishes I've prepared and they're all clearly labeled so you can have a pretty good idea of what's in them. If you have questions, feel free to ask, otherwise, we'll get to the rest in due time. Enjoy everyone!" The young cook announced, gesturing towards the buffet tables.

Harley, Shu, and Saori were wide-eyed when it seemed that Haruka just vanished into thin air before their eyes, seemingly materializing on the opposite side of the room without damaging anything whatsoever, not unlike an Abra using Teleport.

"_I'm surprised she didn't leave a pair of fire trails..."_ Shu thought to himself, reasonably certain that he just heard Haruka's stomach _growl_ from halfway across the room.

The trio that had been left in Haruka's dust went their separate ways, eventually discovering that each of the three long tables had a distinct theme to the food arranged upon it. One table featured dishes from the Western world, the next one featured largely European cuisine, with the final table holding a veritable schmorgisborg of East Asian dishes.

Harley favored the Western table, bringing back a half-pound hamburger stuffed with Feta cheese, Cuban Malta-glazed pork ribs, broccoli and cheese casserole, and finally something called 'Cherry Yum-Yum' for dessert.

Saori found herself drawn to the European table, sampling roast duck, cucumber salad, Shrimp Alfredo, pan-seared Carp with roasted peppers, marinated Cornish hen, pan-seared garlic red potato wedges, and sweet cabbage strudel for dessert.

Shu stuck mostly to the East Asian table, following Haruka's lead. Shu came back with Five-Spice Yellow River Carp, winter melon, Kinka ham soup, Chicken and Red Date stew, Sweet-As-Honey Venison, and Stir-Fried Triple-Winter, which was described as 'a savory mix of autumnal vegetables'.

What surprised this trio of Coordinators was that Haruka, after rapidly inhaling one plate of food to take the edge off her hunger, had gone back for seconds, then thirds, and finally gone for a plate of dessert. Saori was torn between a look of envy versus disgust, as she'd seen Haruka eat like this a few times before and the young girl had barely gained a pound. If nothing else, she figured Haruka had a metabolism that would make most horses jealous.

"Twenty bucks says she doesn't make it through plate number five," Shu whispered in Harley's ear.

"You're on," Harley replied, idly pulling a twenty from his pocket, as did Shu.

Halfway through her plate of dessert, Haruka slowed down quite a bit and sighed contentedly before she idly placed her napkin over her mouth, effectively stifling a long, soft, very unladylike burp. Her face suddenly brightened, finishing her plate of dessert and going back for her fifth plate from all three of the tables.

Another fifteen minutes later, Haruka had finished her fifth plate and washed it all down with a few glasses of tea. Shu grumbled, eyebrow twitching, and forked over his twenty to Harley.

"Gotta LOVE a girl with hollow legs..." Harley noted quietly. Shu's eyebrow kept twitching as he pondered where else Haruka could POSSIBLY be putting all that food.

Across the room, Captain Whitcomb and First Officer Powell were equally as stumped and flabbergasted as their guests. Even after being careful to eat lightly, they still hadn't gotten to sample every one of Leo's culinary creations for the first meal ever served to passengers on the St. Ives.

"How did you EVER get this all done?" Daniel Whitcomb asked the young cook, who had only just sat down at their small table with his own glass of tea for a breather.

"Most of the prep work was done yesterday Captain. I showed up here around 7:30 this morning and you guys didn't get here till almost 1:00pm, so I had plenty of time to get everything cooked and ready. I just know how to multitask and handle pressure. Cooking, at least for me, isn't as hard as people make it out to be, especially given that I've made most of this stuff before, so I was just following a recipe in my head for the most part," Leo explained.

"Well, I'm impressed Mr. Stenbuck. Whoever it was that recommended you to the company wasn't exaggerating whatsoever. A very pleasant surprise indeed," Al noted.

"Please, call me Leo. The last thing I need in my life is more formality."

"Well then, whenever I'm off duty or in here at mealtime, feel free to call me Al," the First Officer replied, shaking Leo's hand firmly.

"I'm afraid being the Captain doesn't allow me the same privilege as my First Officer. But if you ever need anything, feel free to let me know and I'll see what I can do," Captain Whitcomb offered, also shaking Leo's hand.

"Nothing at the moment gentlemen, but thanks anyway," Leo replied, glancing around the room with his one good eye.

"Well, looks like it's time to play 'Meet-and-Greet'," Leo noted as he saw nearly everyone in the room finishing up the last of their meal, getting up and tapping an empty water glass with a fork yet again to get everyone's attention. He had it almost immediately.

"My compliments to the Chef!" A random man shouted enthusiastically, raising his glass for a toast.

A heartbeat later, every last person in the room followed suit without hesitation.

"HERE! HERE!" The others shouted, in near perfect unison. Captain Whitcomb and Al Powell were among them.

Leo scratched the back of his head, somewhat nervous at the reception he was getting. He didn't typically like so much attention.

"Where HAVE my manners gone? Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Leo Stenbuck and I've been signed on as the VIP chef for the maiden voyage of the St. Ives. As the name entails, I will be cooking for VIPs and VIPs ONLY during this trip. This gives us some freedoms that the other passengers won't have the privilege of during the voyage. To begin with, the VIP Dining Room will be open from seven in the morning until eleven in the evening and you are free to come in and dine at any point during those hours," Leo began.

"I gladly take requests for foods and cuisines NOT found on the ship's standard menu, but if you do make requests, please understand that it will take longer to prepare your orders. I would ask that you give me at least an hour's notice for snack foods and two hours for an entire meal. If you are unable, unwilling, or just plain too cozy in your rooms, we will happily deliver meals and snacks to your cabin," Leo continued, grinning.

"Now I open the floor to any questions you all might have about your options here in the VIP Dining Room. Ask away and I'll do my best to answer."

It only took a few moments for Haruka to raise her hand along with a few others.

"Young lady, in the bandana," Leo prompted.

"Is there anything you can't or won't cook?" Haruka asked curiously.

"Our kitchen is fully stocked, so the sky is the limit on ingredients I can use. As for something I simply won't cook, I'll try anything once but so far I haven't met a dish that I would simply refuse to cook ever again. Next question please; you, near the front," Leo pointed to a balding man in his mid-40's.

"Pricing?" He asked simply.

"Everyone in this room eats on-the-house for the entire ten-day voyage. The only thing you pay for is alcoholic beverages and stuff from the many bars onboard. Just give your room key to the servers or bartenders and that will tell them that your meals are on-the-house. We'll also take care of keeping track of whatever you owe at the bars."

Every single face in the room lit up like a Christmas tree.

Shu, Harley, and Saori were smiling broadly.

Haruka looked like she was in rapture.

"_Wait a tick," _Shu thought, the first to realize something. He raised his hand, looking puzzled.

"In the back, Marimo boy," Leo called out.

Shu balked a little at the nickname as his companions snorted in repressed laughter. Shu didn't know whether to feel offended or not, as he'd never been compared to a ball of algae before. He had to admit though, this guy had to be pretty well-read to pull off such a witty comment so fluidly.

"Where do we get our room keys?" Shu asked in an even tone.

"So glad you asked; if you'll direct your attention to the table at the back with all the envelopes currently sitting on it," Leo directed.

All present turned to see a table nestled in a back corner away from the buffet lines with several dozen sealed envelopes arranged neatly on its surface. One of the ship's associates was seated behind the table with a clipboard in hand.

"Each envelope is labeled with a person's first and last name. Please have a picture ID ready for the associate and feel free to pick them up on your way out. With that said, are there any further questions?" Leo asked.

When no other hands were raised, Leo nodded, if only to himself.

"In that case, thank you all for joining us for lunch and hopefully, we'll see you at dinner tonight. I've included my own personal phone extension on a business card in the envelope with your room key, so feel free to call me or stop by, whichever is more convenient for you. The Captain tells me your luggage should already be waiting for you in your cabins, as well as another brochure detailing all of the activities that are available onboard. Enjoy yourselves!" Leo finished as he turned away and started helping the servers clean up from lunch.

The crowd began to break apart and started moving towards the back table to get their room keys, with Shu in the lead, followed closely by Harley, with Haruka and Saori trailing behind.

"Please state your name and have your picture ID ready." The associate reminded everyone gathering in a semi-organized line.

Shu stepped forward, his ID at the ready. "Ichikawa, Shu."

"Thank you, Mr. Ichikawa. Enjoy your stay on the St. Ives," the associate replied, handing the young man his envelope.

"Jameson, Harley."

"Enjoy your stay with us Mr. Jameson," the associate smiled slightly.

"Shinguji, Saori."

The associate blushed slightly, nearly stuttering. "E-Enjoy your stay, Ms. Shinguji."

"Ichijo, Haruka."

This time, the associate grinned genuinely as he handed Haruka her envelope. "You did a great job at the Grand Festival Ms. Ichijo, I look forward to seeing you perform again next year."

It was Haruka's turn to blush slightly as she accepted the envelope, thanking the associate for his support as she left the VIP Dining Room. She found her three companions waiting for her as she opened her envelope and looked at her room number.

"A-Deck, Suite 10," she answered the unasked question.

"About what we figured, we're all pretty much right next door to each other. Shu and I are across the hall from you and Saori," Harley explained.

"That's certainly convenient," Haruka replied, nodding.

"Okay, come on. I wanna see what a Suite looks like on a ship this big, it's been buggin' me for the past few days," Shu said as he headed towards the staircase that would lead them up to A-Deck.

* * *

Emma had to admit, this was easily beginning to degenerate into a game of 'Hurry-Up-And-Wait'.

She and her team were relaxed, savoring the calm before the storm. Well, almost all of them. Johnny was a little antsy, perhaps a little too eager to burn off some of his energy. Other than simple fidgeting, which could be easily explained away if anyone asked, her team was as ready as they were going to get. All that was left was to wait for the St. Ives to start accepting passengers.

Slowly her gaze shifted between each member of her team, as she remembered how each of them had come to be here today.

Johnny Briars was the powerhouse of her team, and his tastes reflected that. He'd been interested in fighting-type pokemon since he or anyone else could remember and having a hulking six-foot six-inch tall bodybuilder's frame only further encouraged him down such a path. He'd been scouted by the organization soon after he'd been expelled from the Pokemon Leagues for several years for 'unsportsmanlike conduct', which really translated into him beating downed opponents and laughing while doing it. He might have been one of the team's unstable elements, but his instability had saved them a couple of times when he'd just gone berserk and clobbered the enemy into a thin red paste, feeling neither hunger, thirst, or even pain. The only thing that stopped Johnny Briars from completing his mission was death itself.

Darrell Walters was the team's electronics and close quarters combat specialist. To that end, he was also a prodigious swordsman, but also used any bladed weapon with excellent skill. His nickname on the team was 'DW' for obvious reasons and whereas Johnny was a hot-head, Darrell was as unflappable as stone, at least on missions. He was easy to know off the battlefield, but if he was on the clock, he was laser-focused and solid as granite. Darrell was almost as talented with computers as he was with a blade and how he came to be that way stumped even Emma, since he guarded his thoughts extremely well and that translated into more control over his actions. Regardless, his skills had come in handy numerous times on intelligence missions, which her team regularly got because they were capable of getting in, obtaining their objective, and getting out again with no one the wiser.

Zelas Metallia was the team's resident spook and intelligence expert. If there was something you needed to know, be it gained legally or illegally, then you went to her. There was an air about her that just set every one of her opponents on edge, like she was more shadow and specter than human being. And her deductive reasoning skills were second to very few; a few minutes looking a room over and she could give you at least a general idea of what had happened. If Johnny was unstable, then Zelas was a borderline basketcase; too much paranoia and life lived too long in the shadows of their organization had tempered her into a manipulative recluse who showed no signs of wanting to come back into what little light was left in the world.

Ayane Takagi rounded out the team as its expert on supernatural pokemon lore and high explosives. In pretty much everything else that the team did, Ayane was the Jack-of-all-Trades. She wielded swords, fired guns, and knew enough aerial martial arts and acrobatics to pass for a real live ninja, a joke everyone constantly made to show how much they appreciated her skills on the team. Beyond that, Ayane proved to be the only real 'black hole' amongst them, since even Zelas was hard pressed to uncover information concerning Ayane's training and what kind of missions she had undertook before being transferred onto Emma's squad by The Board.

And that left only herself, Emily Sears. She'd picked up the nickname 'Emma' from her father, who'd trained her and kept her safe as often as he could, mainly due to the fact that he had a list of enemies as long as his arm who would no doubt exploit her father through her if they weren't very careful. Her father had taught her nearly everything he knew and though she didn't like to admit it, she considered herself the most stable person on her team, largely due to her father's own level-headedness and the training that he'd drilled into her very bones. Her leadership abilities were largely what had kept their team together for so many months after those bloody scientists had finally released them from the research facility almost a year ago now.

Her thoughts were suddenly corralled into focus as she noticed that the boarding gates were finally opening, admitting the first of the more common passengers. Emma brushed the errant thoughts from her mind as she mentally prepared herself for the mission ahead. Though they had yet to initiate hostilities, there was still work to be accomplished before the plan could be set in motion.

She took comfort and resolve in a certain fact as she and her team approached the gangplank with their lighter pieces of luggage in tow; they were the first of their kind, serving as the Vanguard of the new Team Galactic on the mission that would certainly be remembered as the beginning of a revolution that would change everything as they knew it.

If only Emma knew how true that observation would turn out to be...

* * *

Just across the street and totally unaware of the five Team Galactic members boarding the St. Ives, Reiko Chang steps out of a taxi wearing blue jeans, hiking boots, and a windbreaker. Her appearance is slightly different than when she met Ranger Hinata, but it makes a world of difference. Her hair is now up in a tight bun, her eyes are a pale blue, and stylish eyeglasses with transition lenses give her the air of a harmless librarian rather than a Pokemon Ranger who excels at infiltration.

She pays the taxi driver for the ride and searches her backpack and duffle, rummaging through the topmost pockets for the most important part of this little charade. While HQ had not been specific as to how low-profile she should be while in-transit, she had long ago learned that the best way to stay off the radar was to travel under a false identity. Finding her masterfully forged travel papers, she took one last look at the picture on her photo ID and compared it to what she saw in her makeup compact's mirror as she pretended to fix her eyeliner.

Satisfied that she would indeed pass as the person she was claiming to be, she shouldered her backpack and picked up the duffle, making her way to the boarding platform. After a five-minute wait in line, she places her backpack and duffle on a conveyer belt that she knows leads past an x-ray machine, glad that she won't be needing weapons for this trip.

As she is about to pass through a metal detector she takes care to remove all of her jewelry, including three items in particular that somewhat resemble pokeballs; her necklace, a bracelet, and her belt while a guard checks her ID. After passing through a free-standing version, the security officers wave their metal-detector wands over her limbs and torso and find nothing of suspicion, so they allow her to put her jewelry back on.

"Welcome aboard the St. Ives Ms. Leeds, we hope you enjoy your stay with us." One of them replies mechanically, although his eyes do rake up and down her body with clear approval.

Reiko has to remind herself that her name, for the duration of this voyage at least, is _Vanessa Leeds_. Her undercover operative training kicks in and she begins reinforcing the name she's going to have to respond to if anyone tries to get her attention.

"Please, call me Vanessa if you should see me again. Only my boss calls me Ms. Leeds anymore," Reiko replies with a smile, acting the part of 'harmless librarian' flawlessly. The guard blushes slightly and waves Vanessa on through with a smile, moving onto the next person approaching the security station.

* * *

Back in the Kanto region, somewhere on the outskirts of Pallet Town, on a large ranch belonging to one Professor Yukinari Oikido, the research technicians are preparing to lock down the perimeter and leave for the night. It's been a hard day for many of them, but a few still persevere at their given tasks, wanting to finish them since they are so very close.

Kenji Nojima breathes a sigh of relief as he finally reattaches the access panel to one of the lab's primary servers after digging through its guts for nearly four hours trying to find which component was malfunctioning. Since becoming Professor Oikido's primary assistant, he'd gotten very good with computer hardware and using the lab's mainframe system. It had been one of the greatest challenges of his life to learn how to input commands and read data in mainframe code, but he'd stuck it out and within four months, it had become almost second nature to him.

"Alright Professor! Try recompiling it now!" Kenji shouted, praying that he'd finally found the non-functioning processor board. He waited with baited breath, knowing it would take several seconds for the programming code to initiate the procedure.

"That did it!" Professor Oikido's voice rang out from the lab's upper floor. Kenji was currently in the basement, where the temperature was kept at a frigid 13°Celsius, or 55°Farenheit, in order to cool the computer core, which generated an almost exorbitant amount of waste heat. The Professor had acquired the mainframe setup about a year ago so that he wouldn't have to wait days to crunch numbers for research data on someone else's system. So far, they had experienced very few problems that neither he nor the Professor were capable of correcting.

Kenji breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the processor board he now held in his hands. There was nothing overtly wrong with it that he could see, but he knew from first-hand experience that appearances were often misleading. He made his way back up to the lab's main floor, making sure to close the door to the basement as he left. He approached the mainframe terminal, finding Professor Oikido sitting in one of the chairs, on the verge of drifting off as he watched the status of the program's recompile sequence.

Kenji grinned slightly as he set the defective processor board into an empty box to return it to the manufacturer before he tapped on the Professor's shoulder, jostling him awake. For all of the Professor's determination, his age caught up with him from time to time; a fact he dismissed as often as it happened. Kenji had gladly taken up the role of occasional adult-sitter, knowing that the Professor trusted almost no one else to see him on those rare occasions where age got the better of him. Days like today, where neither of them had had hardly anything to eat since breakfast and they had been up for nearly 20 hours now on nothing but coffee, energy drinks, and a few granola bars.

"You can go get some rest if you want Professor, I'll stay and make sure it finishes recompiling," Kenji offered as Oikido rubbed the sleep from his eyes and grunted a little.

"No Kenji, I've lasted this long. Just brew us another half-pot of coffee if you could please and I should be fine," the Professor requested.

Kenji let out a soft sigh, not really surprised that Oikido was being his usual stubborn self. But even he had to admit that it would only take another 40 minutes tops for the program to recompile and they could play cards in the meantime to stay awake. The only thing he balked at was the fact that this would be their seventh pot of coffee today alone. When he reached the kitchen and opened the cabinet to retrieve the extra-large economy-size container of ground coffee, he spotted something that gave him a terrible, awful, AWESOME idea.

Suddenly feeling much more awake, Kenji grabbed the package before him and set to work, grinning like an idiot.

_

* * *

_

15 minutes later...

* * *

"Here you are Professor," Kenji announced in an even tone as he set Oikido's mug at the far end of the computer terminal's desk in order to avoid damaging the equipment with a potential spill. Kenji then placed a few packs of artificial sweetener and non-dairy creamer beside the mug.

Professor Oikido frowned at the sight of them.

"Let me guess; someone killed the sugar today and we're all out of milk?" Oikido asked, rubbing his temples as if fighting off a migraine.

"You got the sugar right, but the milk's turned rancid. I think one of the techs told me that someone left it out of the fridge earlier today," Kenji explained.

"Well, black is better than none at all..." Oikido thought aloud as he brought the steaming liquid to his lips. Kenji idly took a step away, unnoticed by the Professor.

Suddenly, the Professor's eyes went wide and he spit the coffee from his mouth in an eruption that might have resembled a small volcano's.

"Too ... hot?" Kenji asked, fighting the laughter bubbling up within him.

"DECAF?!" Oikido uttered the word like it was an obsenity, his glare heating up more by the second as Kenji just let out a hearty laugh. Yukinari Oikido's punishment for anyone daring to give him decaffeinated coffee was told to clean out the ponyta and rapidash stalls every day for a month, BY THEMSELVES. As he currently cared for over 50 of them in total, it was one of the most extreme punishments on the ranch, hence why no one even bothered buying Decaf to put into the kitchen. The small bag of Decaf that HAD been in the cabinet was a gift from Satoshi's mother, Hanako Hashimoto, that Kenji had been too kind to turn away. It seemed even that sweet lady knew of Yukinari's unchecked addiction to caffeine.

"YOU ... YOU!!" The Professor was evidently about to blow his top when Kenji stopped laughing and faced the Professor down.

"That's for ruining my date two weeks ago," he replied, his grin smug as it could be.

The Professor froze before another word escaped his mouth and had the decency to look embarrassed. Kenji HAD told him he would get even when the Professor had called him back into work to find a 'lost' disk that had turned out to be in Oikido's own labcoat pocket. The young man had been so incensed that he hadn't even told the Professor his date's name.

"_Someone you had better DAMN hope gives me another chance!!"_ he'd shouted two weeks ago before retreating to his bunk at the lab for the night to remove his dress pants, shirt, and tie. Oikido had been ashamed of his actions that night and let the matter go. Much as he hated to admit it, Kenji was almost as much a fixture of the lab now as he himself was. The place had run smoother in the past few years with him around than ever before, so Oikido took a deep breath, picked up his mug, and sipped again, though still twitching from the lack of caffeine.

"Don't worry Professor, it's only a one time thing," Kenji explained, patting him on the shoulder.

Before the Professor could form a reply, they were interrupted by the ringing of the videophone in Oikido's study across the hall from the mainframe terminal room.

"I wonder who that could be at this hour... and on the private line no less," Oikido thought aloud as he got up, mug in hand, and walked into his study, picking up the handset right before the answering machine was about to click on. He got a very pleasant surprise when none other than his old friend Leo appeared on the other end of the line, dressed in a cook's jacket and apron, looking better than he'd seen him look for the past year.

"Why Leo, what a surprise!"

"Okay Yuki, I'll admit it. You were right this time," Leo replied, grinning slightly.

"Well you certainly look better at first glance. So I take it everything is going well on the ship?"

"Yeah, as far as I can tell; some people like me, some don't, but that's gonna happen wherever I go. I'd actually forgotten how much fun it is to cook for more than ten people. There's been some odd requests, but nothing I can't handle..." Leo explained as he trailed off.

"I know that look, what's on your mind?" Yuki asked, a small frown on his face.

"Yuki, you know I don't like to overreact, especially when it's my intuition I'm listening to, so when I ask you this, I want you to know that I'm not doing this on a whim or because I'm losing it," Leo continued.

"Yuki, I want you open the vault and leave it unlocked ... in case I need the team to assemble quickly. Go ahead and enter the 'Safe' code since the timer's set to run for 12 hours."

"Okay, but do me a favor and tell me something; what prompted this?"

Leo hesitates, but knows that the only way that the Professor will actually do what he asks without question is to tell him the truth.

"You remember that dream I told you about? Five years ago?"

Oikido nodded grimly.

"I had it again last night."

Yuki's eyes shot into his hairline. He'd theorized long ago that maybe the dream was a premonition of impending danger when Kurt wasn't available to fulfill that role himself. If the dream had resurfaced, then perhaps there was danger afoot. However, Yuki knew that flying off half-cocked wouldn't do anyone any good. Although he did take comfort in the fact that if trouble DID rear its head on that ship, then Leo was there and he was trained to respond to situations that involved LOTS of trouble.

"Alright then, I'll do it."

"Thanks Yuki. Let's hope that I'm wrong this time," Leo replied.

"I hope you are my friend, for everyone's sake."

"Be seein' ya Yuki; I'll call you when I get back to Kanto in a few weeks."

"Of course, I'll see you then. Try to come back this time injury-free, would you?"

"No promises, but I'll do my best. Out," Leo said as he hung up the receiver on his end.

Oikido set his own receiver back on its cradle and left his study, headed straight for the Equipment Room before he got distracted by anything else. Producing a key to unlock the dead-bolted door, Yuki proceeded straight to the back left corner of the room. Passing disassembled tranquilizer guns, half-assembled pokeballs, feeding troughs, broken ranch-hand gear, and several worktables, he arrived at a heavyset gun vault that was built directly into the wall.

Idly, he entered a four-digit code to set the vault's mode to "Safe", which didn't require any biometrics to gain access to its contents, but instead triggered a magnetic time-lock that would only open after a preset amount of time, ranging from two hours to several days. Then he entered the 15-digit access code and watched as the steady red light on the keypad go dark and the yellow light start blinking once per second, indicating that the time lock had engaged. Once the 12 hours had passed, the light would turn a steady green and all he would have to do is turn the crank to retract the bolts from the housing and open the heavy door.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard Kenji yell something from the vicinity of the front door. Not understanding a word of it, he backtracked through the Equipment Room, locking the door behind him, and went to see what the commotion was about, as the program they'd left compiling still had about 15 minutes left to complete its task.

Upon arriving at the main entrance to the lab, he got another pleasant surprise. Satoshi's mother had apparently decided to pay them a visit, and from the looks of things, she'd come bearing food.

"I'm sorry Kenji, I didn't hear you the first time, but I guess I don't need to ask what you were saying now, do I?" Oikido remarked with a smile, glad as always to have Hanako's company. Kenji was unable to answer as he was currently wolfing down a club sandwich, so Oikido turned to greet Hanako.

"So what brings you out here so late? It'll be dark before you know it," he said, glancing outside at the fading sunlight.

"Well, I was jogging on the side of the road a few hours ago when one of the young men who work here mentioned that maybe I should check up on you sometime tonight since it seemed the two of you were dead-set on fixing something. Here, I brought you one too," Hanako answered as she reached into a bag and retrieved what looked and smelled like a Reuben sandwich, one of Yuki's favorites.

Oikido was about to decline when his stomach answered for him with a muffled growl that even Kenji heard as he wiped his hands and mouth with a paper towel, having finished his own sandwich.

"Come on Professor, we've got a few minutes before the program finishes, you should eat something," Kenji encouraged.

"Well, since you've already gone to the trouble of coming out here Hanako, I might as well. Thanks very much for your concern," Yuki replied, looking slightly flustered, but happy that he had at least two people in the world still willing to look out for him. He went into the kitchen for a bottle of water to go with his sandwich and listened as Hanako and Kenji picked up where they left off.

"So Satoshi called some time ago you said?"

"Yeah, he called a few weeks ago to check in with the Professor and see how the rest of his pokemon were doing. He asked if anything was happening with you, so I told him you were as well as you could possibly be when I last saw you a few days before he called. Since then, we haven't heard anything, so I think they're between towns right now," Kenji explained.

"It seems whenever he calls the house, I'm in town or otherwise away from the phone. If it's not that, he's already moved to the next town. Sometimes I wish he would call home a little more often, with as much trouble as he's gotten into since he started his journey," Hanako thought aloud.

"I wouldn't worry too much about him. Takeshi's with him and he always looks out for Satoshi when they travel together. Plus they've got some new girl, a Coordinator if I remember correctly, along for the ride as well. He did mention something about seeing some guy on the news, oh what was his name ... Shu, that's it. Told me that this Shu guy had placed third in the Johto Grand Festival and won a trip on some ship called the St. Ives..." Kenji continued on for some minutes after that, but Oikido hardly heard a word after 'St. Ives' and 'Shu'.

He was certain that he'd heard that name not that long ago from Satoshi himself, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how Shu was connected in the web of Satoshi's network of friends. The other concern was that this Shu was onboard the same ship as Leo, which might mean trouble in the coming days. He'd have to stay on top of the news for the next two weeks to make sure that nothing bad happened to the St. Ives. Realizing that he'd spaced out, Yuki shook his head as he heard Hanako start speaking again.

"I swear, sometimes I think that boy intentionally tries to worry me to death with some of his adventures..."

_

* * *

_

Somewhere in the Sinnoh region...

"**AAACHHOOOOO!!**" Satoshi sneezed loudly, sending birds scattering for at least a mile in every direction, rubbing the bridge of his nose to help ease the slight pain that accompanies such a monstrous sneeze.

Takeshi and Hikari watched Satoshi with wide eyes, wondering if he'd perhaps sneezed up a lung or some other bodily organ.

"You think someone's talking about him?" Takeshi asked Hikari quietly, also wondering if perhaps Satoshi was about to come down with the flu or something like that.

"Daijoubu! Even if they were, they've probably already said everything that needs to be said," the young Coordinator replied.

"AACHOO!" Satoshi sneezed again, but with much less volume than before.

"Of course, I HAVE been wrong before..." Hikari thought aloud, her head tilted slightly to one side.


End file.
